


College Isn't So Bad..

by kotoriqueen



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, M/M, Pants/Pance as a side pairing, Rated for Swears, Shallura as a side pairing, Slow Burn, There will be pining just wait, the 'oh no my roommate is cute' prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2018-12-07 01:29:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 54,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11613084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kotoriqueen/pseuds/kotoriqueen
Summary: Keith's starting his sophomore year of college, and after his freshmen year being a bust, he's not what you would callexcited. He's dreading the rest of the year, and what makes it worse is he'll be staying at the college dorms this time around. And, surprise! Bad luck strikes him again when there's no way for him to room alone. It's going to be alooongyear.-Hunk is starting his sophomore year of college, and needless to say he'sexcited. Although he's not rooming with his best friend this year, he always was one to be eager to meet new people. Although to his disappointment, his roommate seems to be a quiet, more 'I'd rather be alone' sort of guy. Hunk won't force to become friends with him, but only a quarter through the first semester, his mind and heart are thinking of beingmorethan friends with this guy!-A Heith College AU, with the prompt 'my roommate is super cute and i'm crushing on them'. Story will update when works not kicking my ass.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Any questions about this fic of mine can be asked on my [tumblr](http://kotoriqueen.tumblr.com/ask)! I'll also be posting new chapters there and where I may be nice enough to give special previews of the chapters to come!

His sophomore year had barely started for him, and already, Keith’s  _dreading it_.

For a freshman, the start of your high school or even the start of your college life could feel  _super exciting_ if you didn’t know how stressful your life would become now. For Keith, it was the same thing. He had gotten his high school education when he was living with Shiro, and to be able to get out and  _go_ to a school everyday seemed so exciting. But he was  _dead wrong_.

Freshmen year for him had been a bust; stuck with terrible professors, didn’t really know anybody there, and he was tired  _and_ stressed all the time. When tired, Keith liked his coffee, either completely black with no sweetener or with an energy drink mixed into it. However one of his professors didn’t want any food or drinks in their classroom, and Keith found that out the hard way when he arrived to his first class of the day. Keith had chosen to shut the bad parts of freshmen year of college out of his mind in order for him to go back, but the professor of his science course – Haggar? He thinks her name was? - was  _horrible_. She’d give surprise tests and make the students in her course participate even if they showed no interest. Keith sometimes felt like he was being singled out because Haggar would choose him over most students in the class. And with him not being much of a  _people person_  and would rather learn from sitting at his desk rather than first hand, Keith felt like dropping out right there.

But he didn’t, and each day he came back home to Shiro and his girlfriend, Allura. Shiro would stroke his hair and tell him how proud he was. Allura would help him through the science class curriculum, too, and both Shiro and Allura would tell him that the college was  _still decent_  even if they have had their share of terrible professors too.

When Keith got his schedule for sophomore year, he had listed off his professors to Shiro and Allura, and they told him that things hard turned around for him somewhat and he should be able to have his coffee in class since he chose to take early morning courses. Though one name on the list made Shiro and Allura grimace, which made Keith blink and raise an eyebrow.

“ _Don’t say that name,” Shiro told him, more in a pleading tone._

“ _What?_ Professor Slav _?” Keith repeated and Shiro had shuddered at the name this time. “I thought you guys said things turned around for me!”_

“ _We said somewhat,” Allura had corrected, a hand going to Shiro’s back and rubbing small circles in it. She lets out a breath. “Shiro and I dealt with that professor for our physics course. You may not want to deal with Haggar again, but.. Professor S is just as bad.”_

“ _He goes on about realities and quantum physics.” Shiro added in. “As well as numerous probabilities of succeeding or failing. He’d point out Allura and I a lot and tell us our probability of passing his course. He’d tell us we have the likelihood of a hundred and five percent to_ fail _.”_

“ _We proved him wrong, but.. still it’s a terrible memory that haunts us.”_

Keith pales a little at the information he recalls getting from the two, and  _hopes_ that’s not the case for him. Who knows – things could end up a little different for him but he won’t get his hopes up.

He really  _shouldn’t_ keep his hopes up when his motorcycle had broken down midway through summer. Going to and from college his first year on it had taken a toll on poor Red, and as much as Keith took care of her, it seemed like she had gotten tuckered out after traveling far distances for a long period of time. Delivering food on her hadn’t been bad, because he never traveled far on her, but unfortunately Keith had to give it up when she broke down. And he  _really enjoyed_ that delivery job, especially since he just had to get payment or a signature, give the customer their food, and then he was able to leave. He  _barely_  had to talk to people during those times.

Plus, should he  _really_ keep his hopes up when he has to have a  _roommate_ while he stays at the dorms? According to Shiro, there was no possible way for him to room alone. Bad enough he has to stay at the dorm because of motorcycle troubles, but now he may have no choice in socializing when he’ll be living with a  _stranger_.

Now he sits in Shiro’s van, with Red strapped to the back  _just_ for her to sit in the college parking lot. (Hey, he paid for the parking when he enrolled. He might as well use it.) Everything is either packed into the backseat or the trunk of the car, and Keith sits in the passenger seat, fiddling with the shoulder strap to his seat belt. Shiro’s a slow driver, and it makes Keith  _antsy_. Shiro also prefers the air conditioning system in his van rather than keeping the window open, and Keith  _really misses_ the feeling of wind hitting his face when he speeds down the roads where there’s no speed limit. But with Shiro, he won’t get the feeling. He lets out a sigh as he sinks down into the passenger seat, turning from looking at the passenger side window to out the windshield, taking notice of the license plate in front of him (which honestly is a bunch of numbers and letters), then eventually turns to Shiro, who is more concentrated on driving than making conversation with Keith.

The radio is on though, but Shiro has the news station playing instead of actual music, and Keith’s not paying much attention to it. He won’t be going outside any, unless he’s running from the dorm buildings to class, or from class to the bookstore, where he decides that’s where he’ll be working from now on. If he can’t deliver food to get away from talking to people, he could at  _least_ get lost in the books.

“So,” Shiro finally speaks up after the long drive of silence. He reaches his hand over to turn the news down, and Keith finds relief in hearing Shiro’s voice instead of the monotone, boring voices from the news reports. “are you at least a  _little excited_ about living in the dorms?”

“Not really.” Keith shrugs, twisting the shoulder strap of his seat belt between his hands. “There really was  _no way_ for me to room alone?”

“No, there wasn’t,” Shiro responds as he shakes his head. “But it should be exciting to know your roommate is going to be a surprise!”

“How is  _that_ exciting? That’s more  _stressful_ than anything!”

“Well you don’t know who you’re stuck with until you’re there? It should be exciting to meet a new person.”

“Have you  _met me_ , Shiro?” Keith questions, raising an eyebrow as he narrows his eyes at the older man. He only gets silence in return. “Yeah,  _exactly_ my point.”

Keith folds his arms over his chest with a huff, head turning to glance out the window for the rest of the drive. Shiro side eyes him and lets out a little sigh, reaching for the volume knob to turn the news back up. The rest of the drive is rather quiet besides the sound of the news, which now Keith can’t help but listen to, hearing about the traffic reports and the weather for the rest of the week. He hears something about a storm coming sometime this week when he starts thinking about his college life for the rest of this year, and how he hopes his roommate doesn’t try to talk to him  _too much_. But he supposes he’ll have to face the inevitable at some point and talk to his roommate. Otherwise he may have to face consequences with rumours if he keeps quiet and to himself the rest of the year.

Well, it’s nothing he’s not used to, at least. So even if that  _does_ happen, it’d be easy to ignore.

Shiro flicks on his turn signal to turn into the college, and once he does, he pulls straight to the dorms, parking on the side and turning his caution lights on. At this time, Keith can’t unbuckle his seat belt fast enough,  _needing_ to get out of the van to stretch his legs and breathe in fresh air. Shiro tries to stop him, but Keith pushes the passenger side door open and gets out of the van, breathing a sigh of relief when he’s able to stretch his body out. He leans back inside the van though, grabbing his tote bag a friend of his had sent him just be _cause_ it fit him so well; a black bag with an alien head on it and the Ouija board and it says ‘ _we come in peace_ ’. Keith loves it so much he uses it  _all_ the time. He’s going through the bag now, making sure he has what he needs in order to get his room key from the housing directory.  

They can send him an e-mail about where his courses would be held. They can send him a packet telling him his rooming information. But now Keith has the unfortunate event of talking to a person so he could get his  _key_  for his dorm room.

“Go ahead and get your key,  _then_  figure out where your room is,” Shiro tells him as he watches Keith carefully. “When you found that out, come back and we’ll carry everything up.”

Keith nods and grabs his tote bag, taking in a deep breath before shutting the passenger side door. He walks into dorm building, waiting behind a few others at the desk to talk to housing. When it’s his turn, he already has information set when he’s asked his name and to show his ID. While the person at the front desk is checking his information, Keith glances at the name tag on the persons shirt.  _Ulaz_. What kind of name was  _that_? Unless it was a nickname this guy went by instead of his real name. Other than that, he had a  _weird_ haircut, his hair was white, and his eyebrows were big and bushy. When Ulaz turns back towards him, he’s handing him back his ID, as well as a student ID now with a lanyard already attached, and a small golden yellow envelope that lists his room number.

“You’ll be in room four-nineteen,” Ulaz says as Keith’s grabbing everything. “The dorms are co-ed; odd numbers are for the girls, and even numbers for the boys. They are allowed to be on the same floor together until 9PM. All students are expected to back on campus by 10PM. If there is a reason you need to be off campus for the full day, please come see me before you leave campus.”

Keith nods and mutters a thanks before he leaves. Ulaz seemed  _pleasant_ to speak to. Come to think of it, didn’t Shiro speak highly of the people in charge of housing before? Back when Keith had to go through them when he was enrolling for his second year of college? He can’t really remember it, so it just might be something he should mention to Shiro.  _Hm_.

Keith takes the stairs rather than the elevator, wanting to keep himself from talking to people if he didn’t have to. Thankfully the stairs were less crowded than what he thought they would be, and he makes way up to the fourth floor. When he walks down the halls, he has to dodge big guys wrestling, footballs being thrown across the halls into other rooms – not to mention the loud yelling coming from some of the guys that makes a headache slowly forming. Other than that, he finds his room with ease, but when he gets there, he finds the door wide open. Glancing at the sign next to the door – just to make  _sure_ he had the right room – he steps into the doorway, seeing a guy on the floor with his back turned. Keith takes in a deep breath before knocking on the door frame.

Big mistake.  _Very_ big mistake. The guy turns his head, and Keith sees a smile, but as soon as the guy stands up, Keith feels his heart running a mile a minute. This guy was  _huge_  – he could probably bench press  _Shiro_! Oh no, and now this guy is coming towards him--  _This_ was a  _bad idea_.  _College_ was a bad idea. Why did he have to go for a second year? He should have waited until Red was fixed so he didn’t have to  _deal_ with this! When the man is about a couple feet away from him, Keith swallows hard.

“I-- uh-- This is.. room four-nineteen.. right?” Keith’s stammering, and he swears his voice cracked somewhere in that question.

“You bet! I’m guessing you’re my roommate?” the guy asks and Keith nods slowly. “Nice to meet you. I’m Hunk.”

Oh god, he’s holding out his hand.  _He’_ _s_ _holding out his damn HAND_. Keith stares at it for a moment before he stretches his arm out, hand shaking as his fingers clasp around Hunk’s hand. Oh  _man_ , he has such a strong, firm handshake too.

“K..keith,” Great, now he’s stammering over his own  _name_. “Nice to meet you, too..”

There’s silence between them for a long while, even after they pull their hands away. Keith’s hand goes to the straps of his tote bag, eyes darting around the room. It’s..  _bigger_  than he thought it would be. He thought college dorm rooms were a one room thing with two beds, two desks-- basically a  _very small room_. But the Garrison seemed to be a decent college with large dorm rooms. From what Keith sees so far, there’s a couch and a large television with a coffee table in the middle of the two. On the couch is a couple of square pillows and what seems to be a fluffy blanket thrown over the back of the couch. Was the Garrison to thank for that or..?

“Sorry! I started decorating a little before you got here!” Oh. Maybe it was his roommates doing. Seems more probable. “My old roommate seemed to care for it? But if you don’t, I can switch things around! It just makes the room more brighter than how bland the Garrison makes it..”

“It’s fine..” Keith goes quiet again as he takes another glance around the room and he finds himself backing out of the doorway, stepping out into the hall. “Er, I’m gonna-- I’m going to get my things? I’ll be back.”

‘ _No I won’t_ ,’ Keith thinks to himself as he turns around and practically  _bolts_ , looking like a bat out of hell as he runs down the hall. ‘ _I’m not rooming here._ _And I am NOT_ _staying_ _for sophomore year_ _. I am SO telling Shiro to take me home.._ ’

When he gets outside, he runs right up to Shiro’s van, seeing the other man standing outside of it. Keith sets his hands on the roof of the van, panting from running so fast. When he’s able to get his breathing back in check, he walks around the van, setting a hand on Shiro’s shoulder.

“Shiro,  _please_ , you need to take me back home.” Keith tells him. “I can’t-- I can’t  _do this_. I just  _can’t_!”

“Keith--  _Keith_. Breathe with me here.” Shiro’s hands go to Keith’s shoulders, and at the same time, he and Keith are breathing in and breathing out together. Keith calms down eventually, but he’s  _still_ in panic mode right now. He wants to go  _home_. “This is a  _huge step_ for you, and I’m proud of you for wanting to do sophomore year instead of skipping it. When you told me you still wanted to go to college regardless of your motorcycle breaking down, I was  _so happy_ for you. This experience will be a good thing for you. Trust me on this.”

“How can you be so  _sure though_ , Shiro.”

“Well, I can’t be _too_ _sure_ , but I know  _someone_ who is starting off as a freshman here and would need you here,” Shiro says, removing his hands from Keith’s shoulders to rest at his own hips. “I was standing out here waiting for you when her parents came by to drop her off..”

“Who are you..” Shiro moves his head to gesture behind him, and Keith looks over Shiro’s shoulder to see a short brunette leaning against an old fashioned car and flipping through her phone. Then they make eye contact, Keith staring right into the round rims of her glasses. “I-- what--  _Pidge_?!”

“Keith!” Pidge stuffs her phone into her pocket and runs around Shiro to wrap her arms around Keith’s body. Once they pull back, they do some sort of handshake Shiro can’t follow;  _their_ secret handshake. “Holy  _shit_ man!”

“Language..” Shiro sighs, shaking his head. “Honestly, what would your parents say if they heard you curse like that..”

“It’s nothing to worry about because  _they’ll never know_ ~” Pidge says with a grin before turning back to Keith. “Man, it feels like  _forever_ since I’ve seen you! We have to make plans when college isn’t killing us.”

“Plans as in sitting in our dorms watching illegally downloaded movies?”

“You bet your ass!”

Shiro lets out a breath relief as Keith and Pidge talk to one another. He’s glad that Keith would at least have  _one person_ here he could talk to. When Pidge’s parents come back out of the dorm building, they go straight to Pidge, talking to her about her room number and how everything is set for her to room with a  _sophomore_ and a  _boy_ , at that. Pidge’s father was a lawyer, and her mom was into medical sciences, and with that – plus Pidge’s grades – they were able to talk the Garrison into letting her room with her boyfriend. It still wasn’t easy, and it took a long time to get them to agree on it, but the exception was basically Pidge had to keep her grades up and if she had to have good behavior. If she fails in one of those things, she’s rooming with the girls. (Pidge had scoffed at that when her parents told her, because she  _knew_ she could handle both of things without a problem. It’s not as if she was a trouble maker to begin with, so the Garrison had nothing to worry about.) Shiro’s busy talking to Pidge’s parents until their conversation comes to an end when they glance over at Keith. Keith has met Pidge’s parents on  _several occasions_ , and he knows they were nice people. They were just very protective over their kids, even more so with Pidge when her brother had went away to the air force.

“Keith, it’s great to see you again,” Pidge’s father says as he reaches out a hand. Keith gulps but grabs his hand to shake it nervously. He’s  _still_ not used to handshakes if it wasn’t like the one he and Pidge had. “And it’s even greater to know you two will be at the same college together. I trust you’ll keep a good eye on her and her boyfriend? Make sure he’s treating her right?”

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem. I’ll be in the dorm across the hall from her.” Keith tells him, hands going into the pockets of his jacket. He knows Pidge can take care of herself, but he and Shiro were basically the brothers she needed with Matt not here. “If she needs anything – food, comfort, an extra hand to hide a dead body--”

“ _Keith_.”

“I’ll be there for her.” Keith finishes with a small smile, even if he can feel Shiro’s disapproving gaze from behind him. “You don’t have to worry.”

“That’s good to know.” Pidge’s mother says with a brighter smile then she turns to her only daughter. “Your father and I will help you carry up your things. We’ll send you money for your first month here to get food, but we trust you to get a job on campus in that time.”

“Of course, mom.”

Shiro went with Keith to drop off his things at his dorm, while Pidge’s parents did the same for her. Lucky for Pidge, her roommate didn’t show up yet so he doesn’t  _get_  to meet the parents before they leave Pidge alone with him. Luck also seemed to strike Keith, too, because when he and Shiro got to his dorm, Keith’s roommate was no where in sight. He was able to figure out what room was his though, and he and Shiro dropped his belongings off there. Shiro offered to help him unpack, but Keith turned that down. He’d do that later, to be alone with his thoughts when the time comes. (Which may be sooner rather than later, and it helps for him to be alone when he’s thinking so it’s fine if he waits to put things away.)

Shiro eventually leaves, after telling him again how proud he is of him. He also tells him to call if he needs anything, especially if he’s stressed, since he’s been there, done that, not to mentionhe’s been through  _hell_  at the Garrison before. Keith probably won’t call him if he needs something, since he knows how to calm himself down if he gets into panic mode, but having Shiro with him has helped him a lot over the years. Keith’s not sure he can get through this without him, but he’s going to  _try his damn well hardest_ to continue on making Shiro proud.

His phone chimes and when he looks at it, he grins when he sees Pidge’s name flash across his phone screen. The message tells him to come over since her parents are gone now, and Keith grabs his bag before going across the hall, closing the door to his dorm before going through the doorway to Pidge’s dorm. Pidge is already laying on the couch upside down, feet against the back of it, and her head tilts when she heard Keith walk in. Her grin is wide as she gestures Keith over to the couch. They position themselves so Keith could lay on the couch instead and Pidge can lay on top of him, their bodies fitting perfectly against each others. He pulls out his own phone, and even though they’re both paying more attention to their phones, they still hold a conversation with one another.

They’re in their own little world of phones, cryptids, and conspiracies, paying no attention to the loud noises coming from the other rooms or down the hall. But they  _do_ hear rushed footsteps, and they both glance at the open door, expecting to see some idiot running down the halls but that  _idiot_ stops at the open door, the widest smile on his face.

“ _Pidgeon_! I’m  _so glad_  we’re roommates!” He drops all his things at the door and approaches the couch, having had paid no mind to the other person on there at first. But now as he got closer, he freezes at the coffee table, eyes wide when he finally notices the other man there. “Uh.. who the heck is this?”

“Oh, right. First time you two are meeting.” Pidge says and glances at her phone for a moment before locking it, setting it down on the coffee table. She gets off of Keith, stretching her arms a little but stays sitting on his stomach. “Lance, this is Keith. He’s my cryptid-conspiracy buddy. And Keith, this is Lance – my boyfriend. Or the guy that my parents told you to watch out for.”

Keith blinks, looking over at Lance, seeing that he’s more  _shocked_ to see another man with his girlfriend, but he’s sure that would turn to rage at some point. If he knew anything about boyfriends, it’s that they got jealous when they saw their girlfriend with another guy. Or, well.. that’s from  _movies_ anyway, and not from his own personal experiences. He didn’t even  _like_ girls, so he had nothing to worry about there. Plus.. he wasn’t really the jealous type. Slowly, Keith scoots upwards so he could lean against the arm of the couch instead of just  _laying there_  like the couch was his own. Well, he should at least  _try_ to make a good impression while try to stay calm doing so. There’s no need to be nervous, right? This guy didn’t seem threatening, even if Pidge’s parents said to watch out for him. Or something like that anyway.

“Uh-huh. ‘ _Best friends_ ’,” Lance repeats, making air quotes. “ _Best friends_ canoodle like that? On a couch? With the  _door wide open for all to see_?!”

“First off, we weren’t  _canoodling_ , Lance,” Pidge goes to correct him,  _clearly_ not amused by his overreaction to this. “It’s called  _cuddling –_   _Platonic. Cuddling_. We’ve been doing this before you and I got together. And  _please_ , you and Hunk cuddle all the time!”

“Hunk’s a big guy! He’s warm like the sun and soft like a teddy bear!” Lance points out. “But-- but-- this guy just  _can’t_ be comfortable to lay on!”

“For the record, I don’t like cuddling. Pidge and I are just comfortable with one another and as long as I don’t move, she doesn’t complain,” Keith chimes in, giving a little shrug. “Sometimes she falls asleep on me, too. I don’t know why, it just happens.”

“..Right.” Lance folds his arms over his chest, staring down at Keith. “Other than that, he has a  _mullet_. A  _mullet_ , Pidge! Does  _anything good_ come out of a guy who doesn’t match his hairstyle with the right time period? I don’t think so!”

“My hairstyle has  _nothing_  to do with my personality, and it’s not a  _mullet_.” Keith corrects him, narrowing his eyes at Lance. “If hairstyles told you about someones personality, yours would make me assume you’re a little bitch. Oh wait – that’s not an assumption, it’s  _true_.”

“Why you--”

“ _Whoa_! Hold on! What’s going on in here!”

Lance is interrupted by a voice the three of them seem to be familiar with, and when heads turn, Hunk stands in the doorway. They all blink, but Pidge and Lance shout out his name and run towards him, hugging him tight. Keith slowly sits up on the couch, elbow resting on the arm of the couch and cheek in the palm of his hand as he watch the three in the doorway. Keith decides to tune out what the trio is talking about in the doorway, but he’s staring right at them, and at some point, they all make eye contact with Keith, making him break out of his little daze. Was something said about him? Or were they talking to him? Please let it be the former. He can deal people talking  _about_ him, but it’s bad enough he didn’t make a good impression on this Lance guy. And he’s his best friends  _boyfriend_. Super. Let’s not start talking to people now and make even  _more_ bad impressions.

“Hunk, this is my best friend, Keith,” Pidge introduces him, as if they hadn’t met already. “Lance was getting his sleep mask in a twist because he walked in on us  _cuddling_ on the couch.”

“ _We_  cuddle though, Lance,” Hunk says, glancing over at the other male. “Is that a bad thing if we do it? Should Pidge be jealous of  _us_? Because I like cuddling! And I like hugs! I like all types of affection – you know me like the back of my hand, dude! I can’t stop my affection, that’s who I am!”

Oh.  _Oh god_ , that’s not good. He’s going to be rooming with a guy that likes  _affection_? Hopefully he knows personal space, at least. Maybe Keith can escape before Hunk can get him to though, so he doesn’t have to be a victim of this guys affection. Which, he’s  _sure_ he’s great at hugs and all, but it takes a long while before someone is able to put a hand on Keith’s shoulder, let alone  _hug him_.

“That’s what I was telling him!” Pidge says. “Lance, you’re just overreacting. Keith’s a good guy. A guy with a knife collection, but he’s a good guy.”

“..Wait,  _what_?” Hunk pales, eyes widening as he looks at Keith. “Is that true? Please tell me it’s not. I  _room_ with this guy, Pidge! Oh god, you didn’t bring them with you to college, did you?”

Uh, should he play along here? Maybe he should. That always makes a good impression, right? _Jokes_?

“Pidge, you weren’t supposed to say anything! Darn, andI  _just_ got a new knife. I needed a new body to test it out on.” Keith can see the panic in Hunk’s eyes, so he decides to leave the joking at that. “Kidding. I don’t  _have_ a knife collection. Just a few blades I picked up from yard sales and the one I’ve had since I was a kid. But none of those are with me.”

“You still have  _knives_!” Lance points out. “That’s it. I  _knew_ people with mullets were dangerous. Hunk, I suggest we go to housing and get you a new roommate because this guy is a  _criminal_.”

“I wouldn’t use my knives for killing. They could be worth a lot of money someday,” Keith says, standing up from the couch and sticking his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He can tell when he’s not welcome anymore, and he believes it’s time for him to  _leave_. “Though if I wanted to kill somebody, I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

He slowly steps toward Lance. “It’d come” Step. “when you least” Step. “ _expect it_.”

Then he pinches Lance’s arm and Lance  _screams_. Pidge  _laughs_ and Hunk is left frozen at the door from that whole experience. Keith had managed to slip past and out into the hallway, turning to glance at the trio. He says his good byes to Pidge, apologizes to Hunk, but then tells Lance to sleep with an eye open. If Lance wanted to say certain things about him, he’s going to play along. But once he’s past the door to room four-nineteen, he rests his back against the door. His heart starts pounding, nervous about if he said the wrong thing or if his joking around went too far. He’ll ask Pidge about it later, if the thoughts are still eating at him, but for now, he’ll go to his room to unpack.  _That_ will take his mind off of things.

He walks to his room, turning on the dim lighting they have, but it’s something that he’s going to have to deal with. Unless he wanted to open up the curtains for natural sunlight, but he’s fine with the dim lighting for now. It’s not like he has much to unpack anyway, unless Shiro had snuck something in. Otherwise he shouldn’t have any surprises.

And lo and behold, there  _was_  a surprise. An extra box, actually. When he opens it, he’s greeted with bubble wrap, and when he unwraps the items, he  _knows_ it’s Shiro’s doing. He doesn’t remember packing these items, but it’s too late to complain to Shiro about what he packed in surprise now. He sighs and picks up the first item that had been laying on top. It was a small, framed picture, one that he can set on his desk or the nightstand in his room. It was of him, Shiro, Allura, and Pidge, the summer before Keith’s freshmen year at college, where the four of them had went to an amusement park. He remembers that day where Keith and Pidge ran off to play in the arcade than be outside, since Pidge wasn’t much of an  _outside_ person. (Besides, unfortunate for Pidge, she was too short for most of the rides, and Keith would rather stick with her than have her feel left out.)

_That_  was a fun summer. He hopes he can make more amazing memories with Pidge even if they  _were_  at college.

Next there was a small desk fan, as well as a desk lamp, which the latter was  _definitely_ needed considering the dim lighting. He gets up from his spot on the floor to go to the small desk in his room, setting the lamp in the top right hand corner on his desk, plugging it in and clicking the switch. He’s thankful that Shiro sent the lamp with a bulb already  _in there_ , and the lamp was  _so bright_ , too. This was going to help when Keith stayed up odd hours of the night studying or sketching. He hooks up the desk fan next, setting it in front of the lamp and pointing it towards his bed, turning that on so cool air could go around his room while he was still unpacking.

Keith raises his arms above his head, stretching out from all the work he has done so far. He still has a little bit more to unpack, but he thinks now would be a good time to make something to eat. He and Shiro had went grocery shopping a couple days ago, right before they packed the van with his things. Although Shiro didn’t care much of Keith’s diet of coffee, red bull, and ramen, he gave in and bought those three things for him, but he got boxed pasta, as well, and a case of water, to make sure Keith stayed hydrated.

Now that Keith thinks about it, he could  _really_ go for some macaroni and cheese right now. He remembers Shiro grabbing the three-minute mac and cheese cups instead of the boxed, since that would be a quick snack. (Right. Snack. More like a quick  _meal_ for Keith.) Keith digs through the grocery bags in his bedroom, finding his dinner for the night and the box of cheap silverware Shiro bought him along with..  _everything else_. Honestly, Keith owes Shiro  _so much_. He really hopes he can pay him back after all the years he’s been taking care of him. And there’s still a long way to go until he could pay him back for all he has done..

Keith takes in a breath and goes to leave his bedroom with the microwavable mac and cheese in hand, his free hand opening his bedroom door. As soon as he does, he’s stopped by another man standing in front of door, and when he looks up, his eyes meet with his roommates. Keith gets startled for a moment, and actually, so does  _Hunk_ , both of them stepping back while staring at each other wide eyes. There’s silence between the both of them for a moment, then Hunk’s eyes go to what’s in Keith’s hand, eyebrows raising.

“Is that what you’re eating tonight?” Hunk questions and Keith stares down at the mac and cheese cup, nodding. “Dude, Lance, Pidge, and I are all ordering pizza and bread sticks for dinner? You’re welcome to join us.”

Well.. pizza and bread sticks  _did_ sound better than a single serving of mac and cheese but.. just thinking about how Lance would complain about him during the whole time made him think that he  _wouldn’t_ be welcome to join them at all. And now Keith’s thinking Hunk’s inviting him just to be nice, especially since he’s Pidge’s friend and all. He would give in and take the offer, to at least  _try_ to make new friends like Shiro expected him to but..

“I’ll pass,” Keith says, heart breaking when he sees the look of disappointment in Hunk’s eyes. “Er, I’m probably just going to eat and head straight to bed? Nothing on you guys it’s just.. been a long day and I signed up for 8AM courses.”

“You’re not human if you can get through an 8AM course,” Hunk declares and that makes Keith snort. “But.. okay. I’ll save some pizza for you though if you want leftovers.”

Hunk leaves soon after that, and Keith waits a little bit before he walks to the kitchen, swearing under his breath. He  _should have_ taken that offer. Should have given Hunk a chance and join the three. But his first impression on Lance had turned out horrible, and he feels like he wouldn’t live that down. Even if Lance lets it slide, Keith’s going to be thinking about today for decades to come. (Honestly, it’ll probably keep him awake at night, too.)

Keith lets out a huff as he fills the plastic cup of hard macaroni to the fill line and pops it into the microwave. He leans against the counter while he watches it cook, fiddling with the paper bag of powdered cheese. Arms folded over his chest, and with him alone with his thoughts, all he can think about is how  _terrible_ his first impressions were when he met Hunk and Lance. Heck, because he turned Hunk down now, would he ever invite him to hang out with the three of them again? Probably not.

“Stupid Keith,” he mutters to himself. “Stupid, stupid,  _stupid_.”

The microwave beeps as he grumbles to himself, and Keith stirs in the powdered cheese before heading to his room, setting his dinner down on his desk so he could rip open his case of water to get a bottle. His tote bag had been on the ground all this time, right next to his desk, so he reaches over, digging through it to take out his sketchbook and his case of pencils, setting them up so he could start drawing. It always seemed to calm him down when he got down on himself; the sound of graphite lightly running across the paper, the feeling of the sketchbooks paper texture, and just how  _quiet_ the room became when he was focused on his drawing. He normally draws whatever came to mind, and some pictures go unfinished because Shiro would pull him out of his own little world and he could never come back to it because he lost the motivation for it.

Or Keith would lose track of time and pull himself out of his daze when he realizes how dark it has gotten. Just like now, when he’s been sitting at his desk all this time, not realizing how much time had went by before he finishes the drawing. His dinner is half finished, and he went through two bottles of water during his drawing process, and without realizing it, he had sketched out a UFO with some trees down below it. He glances at his phone, reading that the time was almost 9PM, when it was nearly 6PM when he started drawing. Huh. Weird.  

He gets up from his desk, stretching his legs, and walks out of his bedroom to throw away his empty bottles and his half eaten dinner. After that, it’s back to his bedroom to get everything together for his classes tomorrow. Messenger bag hanging over his desk chair. The stars on it are fading, from how long he’s been using it, but if it’s not breaking, then he has no reason to get a new one.

Changing his clothes doesn’t take long; he just switches out of his basic t-shirt and skinny jeans to a tank top and plain pajama pants. His phone charger is set up by his bed, phone plugged in and sitting on top of the nightstand. He has an alarm set already, to get up possibly  _way too early_ in the morning, but Keith’s not one to get a lot of sleep anyway. He’s more awake and focused when he doesn’t get a lot of sleep, but the coffee  _does_ help.

Tomorrow.. he’s dreading tomorrow a little. Shiro and Allura may say his professors didn’t seem bad – with Professor Slav being exempted from that – but things could have changed since they went here. Laying on the bed, he tosses and turns, unable to get comfortable. His bed creaks with every movement, the sheets scratching at his skin, and the room being too hot to sleep with a blanket, even with his desk fan on and pointing towards his bed. He’ll have to get a new sheet set for this bed, but for now, he’ll deal with it as long as he has to before he can buy new sheets himself and  _not_ ask Shiro this time around.

He can do things himself. He can get through his second year of college. He got through his first year just fine and that had been a  _mess_. Keith takes in a breath through his nose, letting it out through his mouth, and feels himself calming down, even if it’s just a little.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of his sophomore year starts off _okay_ to say the least. The teachers aren't that bad, and, besides waking up to a terrible alarm tone, his sophomore year should go smoothly? Or so Keith hopes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to update! With a lot more words than the first chapter.   
> Work has been kicking my ass you guys. Updating will be slow but I hope you guys stick around until I finish this!! I'm already going to start brainstorming the next chapter!!

He doesn’t remember falling asleep last night, but he’s still tired and wants to sleep more when he’s greeted by Shiro’s  _god awful_ , off key singing as his alarm tone. Keith wasn’t big into electronics, and it took him a good solid month before he mastered his laptop when he first got it. The phone took him a while to get used to, and after the basic tones just made him fall back to sleep, Shiro decided to help him out. Though it’s not really  _help_ when you wake up to  _Never Going to Give You Up_ by Rick Astley blasting. A very  _off key_ version of the song. Keith knows Shiro’s a better singer, he’s heard him sing old songs around the house before when Shiro thought he wasn’t listening. But this? Keith would much rather cut his ears off than listen to the full chorus if he didn’t wake up.

It’s six am when he wakes up to his alarm. He stretches and rubs his eyes, before gathering his body wash and shampoo and heading towards the bathroom. He prefers showering in the mornings, and waking up to the cold water before it starts warming up. His body wash is basic, but it keeps him clean and smelling good. His shampoo does wonders on his thick hair, something Shiro chose  _specifically_ for him to make sure he took good care of himself. Keith knows his hair is a hassle, but he doesn’t see himself getting rid of it anytime soon. Though he does tend to slip it into a low ponytail if it gets in the way while he’s drawing.

He takes a quick shower and walks to his room quickly with a towel wrapped around his waist, another towel around his shoulders to keep his hair from leaving water droplets on the floor. Back in his room, he turns on his lamp and quickly dries off, changing into a simple outfit for the day. Plain red boxers, black skinny jeans over them, and a black tank top with his red hooded jacket over that. He decides to leave it unzipped, and he rolls the sleeves up to his elbows as he looks through the nonperishable groceries he has in his room for a quick breakfast. He finds prepackaged, store bought cinnamon rolls in a bag, and he opens the plastic container carefully, just in case his roommate was sleeping in his room. Unless Hunk stayed at Pidge’s dorm for the night. Either way, he’ll be careful with noise.

He grabs his bag of coffee grounds as well as his travel mug, going to the kitchen with the cinnamon roll between his teeth. As his coffee is brewing, he’s munching on his small breakfast, heading back towards his room to make sure he has everything for his first half of courses. He didn’t notice it last night, but he notices it  _now –_  he can’t find his glasses case or his contacts. Shit. He must have left them at home. He wonders if Shiro’s awake right now--  _probably_. But Keith doesn’t feel up to bothering him this early. He’ll just have to deal with sitting in front of each course, and hope for the best that he doesn’t get called on for questions he  _most likely_ knows the answers to but he’s not big on class participation.

Back to the kitchen with his messenger bag hanging on on his shoulder, pleased to know his coffee is ready. For today, he’ll just take his coffee black. It might stay that way for the first week at least, until he knows if his classes are going to make him regret mornings and wish he had more energy. He pours his coffee into his travel mug, cleans up his mess, and checks the time. It’s a quarter after seven, and he has fifteen minutes before he’ll leave  _just_ to make sure he gets to his first course in time.

Screw it. He’ll just leave now. It’s better to be early than on time, right? He’ll just walk slow.

The best part about having an 8AM class is that the halls in the dorm aren’t crowded with students. There’s a few here and there Keith noticed, because they’re probably in the same boat as him. That, or they stayed up all night partying and realize sleep isn’t an option since they’d have a class in a few hours. Keith still takes the steps down to the main floor of the dorm building, and when he looks over to the front desk, Ulaz is no longer there. Instead, it’s a tan, more buff looking guy. From the look at his arms, Keith can tell he has more muscle mass than Shiro. Although this guy seems to be paying more attention to a newspaper than what students are coming in or out of the dorm. Though Keith  _does_ notice the mug on the desk; a white ceramic one with a cookie wearing glasses and the words ‘ _I’m a tough cookie_ ’ written on it. It takes all of Keith’s will power not to laugh, but when he leaves the dorm building, he lets out a quiet snort.  _Puns_. He hates it when Shiro makes them, but that mug was pretty funny, he’ll silently admit.

Despite him walking slow, he still ends up making it to his creative writing room within fifteen minutes. With that, he decides to sit in the hall, back against a wall and scrolling through news articles while sipping at his coffee. His coffee is about halfway gone before Keith looks up and notices a few kids walking into the classroom. After pocketing his phone, he gets up from the floor and enters the classroom himself, going right for the front of class. Most students are taking seats in the middle or the far back, but with Keith, he has the bad luck to forget his glasses and has to deal with sitting front and center. Also risking being called on for the whole hour, but he’s hoping that doesn’t happen. But it was either this, or end up squinting from the back of the class. Then he’ll get rumours spread that he was  _glaring_ and, as much as he’s  _used to_ rumours being spread around like a wildfire about him.. well, he’d just rather not have that happen.

Actually, if he had to choose the less of two evils, he’d choose the rumours, but he’d rather not  _deal_ with the headache that would form if he squinted for the whole day during his classes.

Two minutes before eight, the teacher walks in. The other males in the class freeze in their seats as she makes way down to the front of the classroom, greeting each and every one of her students. Keith’s not one to be into girls – he actually told Shiro he was gay halfway through freshman year and Shiro was  _very_ supportive of him – but he’ll admit that the teacher is rather pretty. He may be  _gay_ but he’s not  _blind_.

Keith could tell she had a skin condition called vitiligo, and he only knew this because back at the orphanage, one of the girls had it. (He remembers how much she was teased because of it, and Keith was the only one that befriended her back then.) She has bright blue eyes, with black hair that had blue highlights, the black changing to blue halfway down her hair. Her hair is hanging over her shoulders, strands resting at her chest. Not only that, but she dresses fashionably, but still looks presentable in order to teach. Her dress is a cream colour; what looks like a strapless dress underneath with a short sleeved lace dress on top of that. The skirt reaches just before her knees, and she wears light tan tights underneath, cream coloured heels to match the outfit. On her wrist is a white watch, and around her neck is a silver necklace with a shiny seashell charm hanging from the chain.

And now all the other guys are up front with Keith, just because the teacher looked  _pretty_.

“Hello and good morning, everyone. My name is Plaxum, and I’ll be teaching all of you about creative writing for the year,” she starts off by saying. “That is, if all you decide to stay. All of you do  _not_ seem to be awake for this 8AM course, but I still give you guys kudos for waking up and getting here on time!”

‘ _Gee_ ,’ Keith thinks as he sips his coffee. ‘ _What gave it away that we weren’t awake_?’

Plaxum starts off passing out the course syllabus, and starts reading it off with her own copy. Most of the students aren’t following along because they’re so tired, and Plaxum’s calming voice doesn’t really help them much either. Keith’s able to stay focused though, and after the syllabus is gone over, Plaxum starts telling them there’s a book required for the course, and when she tells them the price, Keith pales. He can’t afford  _that_! Even with a job on campus, he won’t be able to afford it. He might e-mail Plaxum about it later, to see if there’s another way to get with _out_  selling his soul to Satan. (Which he’d rather sell his mind to aliens before he sells his soul.)

The hour goes by slowly. For being an 8AM class, everyone is  _still_ dead tired. Even with a teacher as pretty as Plaxum, there’s minds were still mush. Keith’s partially awake, but that’s only from downing a cup of coffee. When that hour passes, there’s another hour before his next course: Physics. AKA the one course Shiro and Allura warned him about because of Professor  _Slav_. It may be a 10AM course, but Keith is more than certain that he’s not going to be awake enough to deal with him. Even if he thinks he can’t be  _that bad_ from what Shiro makes him out to be.

Keith decides to hit up the schools coffee shop though; the coffee being cheap but still strong enough to keep him awake. He just gets a regular black coffee like the brew he made this morning at the dorms and sips at it at an empty table as he writes down some notes from creative writing. Keith was not much of a  _creative writer_ , hell – he rarely did any writing at all. But the first question Plaxum asked everyone was: why did they choose creative writing in the first place? No one had to answer right away, but she expects an answer at the end of the semester, where they’ll be given an assignment to write a paper of  _why_ they chose creative writing. Keith somewhat already knew why he chose creative writing. It was for him to get more of a chance to think for creatively. With his drawings and his photography, he  _really_ needs to have more of a creative mind. Maybe with his photography, he could write a thousand words about the pictures. (Which, he’s pretty sure that might be an assignment in the future for creative writing. He might as well get ahead of the game.)

At nine-thirty, he leaves the table he’s been sitting at to make way to Professor Slav’s classroom. It takes him only ten minutes to get there, his body finally waking up and deciding  _not_ to hate him for waking up at 6AM. Students enter after the first couple minutes of Keith arriving, and Keith follows them like he did with Plaxum’s class. Again, he sits up front, but unlike Plaxum’s class, students fill up the first row of seats with no problem. And five minutes before ten, Slav arrives.

Slav is a short man, a little shorter than Keith but taller than Pidge. He has dark brown hair that’s combed over, most likely covering a bald spot. He looks like a grumpy old man, but also rather  _boring_ with his plain black suit and tie. He starts class before the clock hits ten, and he starts introducing the class to physics while passing out the syllabus. And like Plaxum, he’s reciting the syllabus but  _without_ looking at it. He still doesn’t seem too bad to Keith, but things could change in an hour. He also mentions a book mandatory for the class, and he will  _not_ let a cheap version or downloaded version allowed in his classroom. Lucky for Keith, he has two copies of the textbook now thanks to Shiro and Allura, but he won’t let the other students know that. In fact, he still has it in his dorm. For the price the two had to pay for it, they would rather try to get their money back, but seeing as how that wouldn’t be possible, they’d let Keith have it.

(Keith had thanked them, sure, but also paid them a small amount each in order for him to have it. According to them, it would have been more than what the college’s bookstore would have offered.)

Slav already starts talking about physics even without everyone having a textbook. Keith starts taking notes; small, but detailed notes. He’s paying close attention, and when he darts his attention to the students to the left and the right of him, they’re writing their own notes down as well.  _This_ is how a course should be. No one tired, or focused on hot their teacher is. But then again, Keith spots the look of terror on some of the others faces, and he’s wondering  _why_ that is. Keith blinks a few times before going back to his notes. Then Slav starts listing off probabilities of who is more or less likely to pass the course. Also who is more or less likely to drop out of this course before the first semester ends. Keith gulps, and he sits up straight as Slav picks and chooses each student, listing off numbers over a hundred and the possibility if they’d fail or pass. When he reaches Keith, Slav stands in front of the desk, staring at him for a long period of time.

“A hundred and ten percent likely to pass..” Slav starts off with, and Keith can’t tell if that’s good or bad so he holds his breath. “Although two hundred and fifty percent likely to drop out of this course within a week.”

Within a  _week_?! Well Keith will just have to prove him wrong. Shiro had warned him about this, and remembers Allura telling stories about the same thing that happened to them. Shiro and Allura spent more time on physics than any other course in order to prove Slav wrong, and they ended up doing that. Keith will do the same then. By the end of the semester, he’ll prove Slav wrong.

By eleven, everyone is starting to pack up but Slav is still talking. He pauses in the middle of a sentence to tell everyone to stay seated since he wasn’t finished. Fifteen minutes after, he lets everyone leave. Everyone seems to bolt out of there like a bat out of hell and Keith rushes to get his things together. He leaves the classroom like the others, and goes straight for his dorm for a quick lunch. When he gets to his dorm, he finds it empty. His roommate must be at his own classes now, so that means he has the dorm to himself until he has to leave for his next course of the day.

The first think Keith does is organize his things. He goes into his room, putting notebooks together with post-its about text books. Plaxum’s e-mail is listed on the syllabus, which he’ll gather up his courage later tonight to e-mail her about getting a cheaper version somehow. He gets everything ready for his next course while he’s at it, going through his box labeled ‘FRAGILE’ in big letters to find his camera. Shiro and Allura had teamed up to buy it for him his last birthday, and it seemed so  _expensive_  that Keith started crying. He even said he couldn’t accept something like this. But Shiro told him that he was proud of him for getting as far as he did, and he supported his career choice. He had noticed the pictures Keith would take on a Kodak camera since he went to pick up the developed pictures when they were ready. They looked  _amazing_ , and that was hard to do with a cheap camera mainly used for family vacations instead of professional work.

Keith’s breath hitches as he remembers the moment, and his eyes start to sting from tears. He quickly rubs at his eyes and carefully places his camera into his messenger bag. After that, he searches through his grocery bags to find something quick to eat for lunch. Well.. a three-minute microwavable mac and cheese counts as lunch, right? It was a good dinner last night. Keith decides on that and goes to the kitchen to make it, along with a bottle of water, which he chugs down half the bottle as he waits for his mac and cheese to cook. Once it’s ready, he mixes in the powdered cheese and he eats it in the living room while texting Shiro. Since it’s nearly noon, Shiro  _should_ be awake, but somethings eating at Keith thinking he’s bothering him. He sends Shiro a quick text to apologize if he’s being a bother and the first instant response he gets is:

_You’re not being a bother_.

Sure, it’s reassuring, but that doesn’t mean Keith’s going to think differently. He’s telling Shiro how he left his contacts and glasses and he’d stop by on the weekend to come pick them up. Instead, Shiro offers to come over instead. Maybe they could go out for a proper dinner than just quick microwavable meals. Keith doesn’t know if he’d like that, but it was a nice offer so he’ll at least  _think_  about it. He finishes his mac and cheese as well his water then glances at the time. His photography course starts at twelve-thirty, and it’s twelve  _now_. He should probably start heading out.

It’s more crowded in the halls at this time. Keith dodges students in the halls and down the steps, bolting out the door of the dorm building to make way to his final class of the day. He’s more awake for this course, and he might be the most  _excited_ for it. His teacher for this was someone named Thace, and unlike his other two classes, Keith enters the room before anyone else. He has the whole classroom to himself for now, so he takes a seat at the front the classroom and waits for the room to fill up with students. Within a few minutes, more people join, and he hears gossip between the girls who weren’t particularly quiet when they were talking so, unfortunate for Keith, he ended up catching what they were saying.

Something about how they say their professor in the halls and at lunch and he was a total  _hottie_. Keith raises an eyebrow at that, but tries to keep himself away from the conversation. A few guys join the classroom, too, and start gossiping with the girls, bursting their bubble and telling them that Professor Thace was  _taken_. There’s whines of complaint, and then the girls telling the guys that they were  _lying_. There’s even more gossip about how some of the guys saw Thace and Ulaz kissing last night and Keith blinks at that information. Time goes by fast, and before they all knew it, Thace enters the classroom.

“Alright all of you, settle down,” he says as he walks towards the front of the classroom. “Pick a seat, and I’ll pass out the syllabus.”

Thace is a tall man with some muscle, but nothing compared to Ulaz or the guy he saw this morning. He has light tan complexion, black hair spiked up like Wolverine’s –  _yes_ , Keith knew who  _Wolverine_  was. He and Pidge spent a while holed up in their rooms reading comics together and watching movies – and he had a goatee. There’s a noticeable scar by his right eyebrow, which the girls seem to whisper among themselves saying he looks so  _cool_. He’s dressed in a simple pair of black slacks and a white dress shirt with a brown vest. He’s passing the syllabus out as he talks to the students, and the first thing that happens in the class is a small moment of Q and A. He asks students questions at first, then it switches into about him. When he explains this, dozens of hands shoot up and Thace chuckles a little.

“I like the enthusiasm, I really do! But I’m going to ask all of you questions first,” Thace explains and there’s sounds of disappointment coming from everyone. “Oh, come on. We can’t make our first time meeting be all about  _me_.”

“Yes we can!” shouts a girl and Thace lets out a sigh.

“ _No_ , we can’t. Anyway, I’ll start asking the question of: What do you mostly take photos of and why?” Thace says and then directs his attention to Keith. “State your name before you answer your question.”

“Er.. Keith,” he hesitantly responds, shoulders tense. “I.. at first, I didn’t really take photos. I used to draw out what I saw. Like I was my own camera? I saw it through my eyes, and drew it almost instantly. With that being said, it was mostly scenery that I was interested in. The sun coming in through the trees leaves and branches, the sight of the grass waving as the wind hits. The look of the dark, gray clouds when it’s about to rain.. The sight of the droplets on a window from a rainstorm--”

“And the  _why_?”

“It makes me feel at ease? I guess?” Keith shrugs at his answer. “Or.. I guess.. scenery goes through constant change just like us. We go through our brightest and happiest times, the tough times, and the dark and the depressing. Scenery can really make you show how you’re feeling depending what you take pictures mostly of.”

“Very nice answer,” Thace praises and Keith breathes a sigh of relief. “I’d like to see some of your drawings if you’re comfortable with it. Okay – next!”

Keith’s not really comfortable showing people his artwork, nor had he been comfortable with talking that much in class before. His heart is still racing about the thought if he said something stupid, or if he tripped over his own words. Thace goes through each student, and some people talk about instagram, others use fashion as their muse for photos. A lot of them didn’t have the same answer like Keith did, but Thace still praised them for it. Once he goes through everyone, he talks about the rules for the Q and A about himself. Such as.. they couldn’t ask him about his relationship status. Keith suppresses a chuckle as he hears all the students groan at that. That was probably the number one question all of them had. But Thace explains he’s strictly professional and he’d rather not make their first day together all about his love life.

“For the record though, I  _am_ taken. But that’s all that I will give you guys.”

There’s huffs and grumbles. A guy speaks up though and asks about a textbook for this course. Thace does mention there is one, but it’s a very thin and inexpensive textbook, which makes Keith want to buy it. But hearing the price makes him change his mind, thinking it wouldn’t be in his budget. But he  _really loves_ photography, and he’ll survive off of ramen and water for months if he has to just for this textbook.

At one-thirty, the course ends. Keith takes his time packing up while everyone else leaves the room quickly. There’s still talk about Thace’s love life among the girls, which makes Thace sigh and run a hand through his hair. Keith stands up from the desk, grabbing the strap of his messenger bag and slipping it on his shoulder. Keith may not be much of a people person, nor was he that comfortable with most people. But around Thace? Heck, Keith just spoke more in the first few minutes than he has in the hour with his other teachers. Keith gives a small smile, eyes fixed on Thace.

“That won’t stop them, you know,” Keith tells him and Thace lets out a small laugh.

“Well aware. But I can hope.”

Keith chuckles a little at that and leaves the room, going back to the dorm building. The guy from this morning is still there, but there’s no newspaper in sight so now he can read the name tag on his shirt.  _Kolivan_. He has enough hair to have a small braid hanging on his shoulder, and glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. Keith makes way to his dorm room to drop off his things before straightening up, then back into college he goes, straight of the bookstore on campus. Not only was he going to look into the books for his courses to see if the prices were true, but he’s going to see if he can apply.

Unfortunately, the prices were true. So he doesn’t really buy anything this time around – he just applies. The person helping him is named Florona, who has a positive attitude and gets the manager right away. The manager comes out –  _Luxia_ , her name tag reads – and takes a look at Keith’s application right away. She tells him she’ll get to him within the week to schedule an interview, since she believes more students will be applying, as well. Keith doesn’t blame them for wanting a job here; it’s easy and you don’t have to do much. Plus, you could look at the course books on your own time to get some studying done if you decided to.

He goes back to the dorm building for the fourth time today. His photography course had ended at one-thirty, and now it’s two-thirty after talking to Luxia for a while about the job. He searches through his bags in his bedroom for something quick to eat, which is just a bag of popcorn he popped into the microwave and watches it cook. He sits in the living room flipping through channels on the television as he eats, drinking water in between his small snack. He isn’t keeping track of the time, but when the door opens, Keith glances over, seeing Hunk come in through the door. He looks  _exhausted_. Keith blinks, and swallows down a mouthful of popcorn before greeting Hunk. Hunk gives a small wave back before he notices what Keith’s eating. He raises an eyebrow at him.

“Is.. that all you’re eating?” Hunk questions. Again, Keith blinks and stares down at his popcorn. “Please tell me that’s not all you’re eating.”

“I mean-- maybe? I’m not that hungry.”

“Dude. Let me cook up something more nutritional for you.”

“I’m not--” Keith starts but is interrupted by his stomach letting out a low growl. Heat goes to his cheeks out of embarrassment and he makes eye contact with Hunk, who has a sly smile on his face. “Don’t. Say. Anything.”

“I’m not!” Hunk says, raising his hands in defense. He sets his bag down on the floor and slowly makes his way to the kitchen. “I’m just gonna, you know, be in the kitchen making pasta with Italian sausage. I think it’s tortellini night.”

‘ _Fuck that sounds good_ ,’ Keith thinks and his stomach rumbles once again. ‘ _Shut up, stomach_.’

He’s ready to get up off the spot he has on the couch to chase after Hunk, telling him not to cook just for him, but the door slams open and there stands Pidge and Lance. Keith blinks in shock, and he’s wondering what the two of them are going there. Then he notices the Wii tucked underneath Pidge’s arm and the backpack on her shoulders.  _Oh no_. It’s not Mario Kart night, is it?

“Okay, fuck nugget, since you decided to not join us for movie-pizza night,” Pidge starts off as she storms over to Keith. “We came over here for game night!”

“Okay, that’s fine,” Keith says. “I’ll just be in my room--”

“Oh no. No no no. Nope!” Lance tells him, shaking his head. “You’re playing with us.”

“You keep your ass seated on this couch and play Mario Kart with us!”

Keith sighs. There’s no way he’s getting out of this. Instead, he offers to help Pidge set everything up while Lance wanders into the kitchen to help out Hunk. The cooking would take a while, so Hunk and Lance give the other two permission to play a round while dinner was being made. Pidge had managed to unlock all the characters in the game, so she chooses Yoshi while Keith gets King Boo. There’s shouts and cheers, and of course the ‘ _did you just fucking blue shell me_?!’ line. No one should get in the way of Pidge and her games, especially Mario Kart. The game goes on for a while, only because the two of them are pushing and shoving at one another. Eventually, Pidge ends up being the victor which makes Keith huff and claim Pidge cheated. At this time, dinner is ready, and Hunk brings out a plate for himself and Keith while Lance brings out one for himself and Pidge. Lance snatches Keith controller away from him in order to verse Pidge while he eats. Keith’s still a little pissed about losing, but he knows Pidge is  _crazy good_ at Mario Kart, so he can’t stay mad forever.

He picks up his fork and takes a bite of the dinner Hunk made. The first bite makes him think he’s in  _heaven_. He wants to savour the food, but it’s so good he wants to eat it and ask for more. He’s very conflicted on this, and Hunk notices how Keith’s fork is still in his mouth.

“Is it not good?” Hunk questions, concern in his tone. “I can make something else.”

“No!” Keith says around the fork before pulling it out, chewing and swallowing the food in his mouth. “I mean.. no. It’s good.  _Really_ good. I’m just conflicted on savouring it or eat it in five seconds just so I can have  _more_.”

“Hunk’s cooking will do that to you.” Lance tells him, a wide grin on his face as he’s focused on beating Pidge. “He makes the  _best_ meals. And desserts! But he’s also great at electronics.  _And_  cars.”

What was Lance trying to do? Make him think Hunk was a good guy? Because Keith already thinks that – scratch that. He  _knows_ Hunk’s a good guy and he’s barely known him for twenty-four hours! That should be a record.

“Listen, guys, I’m  _flattered_ \-- And Keith, I literally saw you eating popcorn for dinner and a small serving of mac and cheese last night!” Hunk says and Keith shrugs. “Don’t you shrug at me mister. I make better food than that stuff. Do you even know  _how_ to cook?”

“Well--”

“Besides ramen, popcorn, or mac and cheese?” Pidge chimes in, still racing with Lance but she turns her head over her shoulder to talk to the other two. “Nope. He burns everything he makes.”

“ _Pidge_!”

“It’s true. You burnt pasta. How do you even burn  _pasta_?” Pidge questions, nearly throwing her controller before realizing that would be a big mistake. “He tried to bake me a cake once for my birthday and nearly burned the house down. We just ended up eating a can of frosting.”

“I’m so glad you two weren’t roommates,” Hunk breathes a sigh of relief. “Lance, please feed your girlfriend good food and not frosting.”

“I don’t know, big guy. That depends on the frosting.”

“Lance!”

Keith tries to eat his dinner, but the three are starting to fight over what would count as a healthy meal, what would count as a snack, and what would just.. not count as food at all. Pidge says that the frosting was edible, so it was still  _food_ to her. In which Hunk retorts that he  _knows_ what actual food is –  _he’s a culinary minor_! While arguing, Lance ends up driving off the road and loses, but Pidge is cackling and ends up doing the  _same fucking thing_. One of the CPU’s win, who was playing as Donkey Kong. It makes the both of them throw down their controllers, huffing and cussing out Donkey Kong. They decide to eat Hunk’s dinner in anger, but the taste of it makes their anger fade. Not much time passes before they finish dinner and they decide to break away from Mario Kart because they do  _not_ want to make Donkey Kong win again.

“Should we play.. Just Dance then?” Lance suggests but it makes Pidge and Hunk groan. “What? What’s wrong with it?”

“You’re too good at that game, man!” Hunk complains. “You  _know_ I can’t dance.”

“Please. And yes you  _can_. I’ve  _seen you_!”

“That was in the privacy of our old dorm room!”

“Keith and I can go first because he says he can’t dance either.” Pidge comments and Keith nearly chokes on his water. “Come on. Then Lance and I can go and then you and Hunk.”

“I don’t know--”

“Come  _on_!” Lance shouts, getting up off the floor and starts moving the coffee table. “Get up, move the couch, and I can show you how a real dance master does it.”

Keith stares at Lance for a moment, thinking for a moment before going:

“Okay. Let’s do this.”

There’s cheers from both Lance and Pidge, and Hunk gets off the couch to help Keith move it backwards. They’ll need the room for this game. The game starts up, and as said, Keith and Pidge go first. They go through the song list to find the perfect song - “We’re doing  _Daddy_.” “No. No we’re not.” “Keith--” “No Pidge.” - while Lance is dancing far off when they scrolled over  _Hips Don’t Lie_. They both bickered over the song choices, before Pidge just chose one at random. It’s one Keith’s  _good at_ , for the record, but the only two that know this is Pidge and Shiro. Pidge had joined in at some point but she didn’t get a crazy good score like Keith had. When the song starts up though, Keith’s stiff and his timing turns out horrible before he takes a deep breath to relax himself.  _Then_ he starts doing better. He’s able to get the timing perfectly, and his body moves as if he hadn’t been nervous to do this in front  _two people_ he didn’t know. Pidge isn’t a huge fan of the song, but she had known how Keith would practice this by himself on days they would hang out together and she got too exhausted from playing.

He gets five stars. And he barely broke a sweat from playing. He’s catching his breath though, and Lance is staring at the score with wide eyes, amazed. Hunk’s thinking that there’s no way he could move like Keith did – hell, he’s going to get a  _really bad score_  if he plays. And then what? His roommate is going to think he’s a terrible dancer and start laughing at him.

“Okay, I have a better idea,” Lance finally says after Pidge goes back to the song screen. “ _I’m_ versing Keith. Winner goes against Hunk. Then we’ll just do freestyle for the rest of the night.”

“Keith’s going to wreck you, Lance.” Pidge tells him, making Keith stare at her that could only read  _why would you say that_. Pidge ignores it. “Wanna bet on it?”

“I bet a whole week of getting you overpriced coffee that he  _can’t_  beat me.” Lance offers and Pidge hums in thought. “If I win, you gotta get me overpriced coffee.”

“Deal.”

Keith never agreed to this. But there’s no time to argue about it because Lance already took Pidge’s spot. He’s scrolling through songs while Keith wishes he could just escape to his room for the rest of the night. He’s humming while clicking on songs, listening to them for a short while before clicking on the next one. It takes what seems to be five minutes before Lance chooses a song.  _Single Ladies_. Pidge calls him out on choosing a Beyonce song and Lance says that she’s a  _queen_. Of  _course_ he’d pick her!

“Let’s just get this over with.” Keith mutters as the game transitions to the song.

The moves are a little complicated. Keith has played the song before, but he was never able to get a high score on it. Lance seems to be moving to the beat like his bones were made out of gelatin. When Keith glances over at him, it only makes him more determined to beat him. Pidge likes her coffee, but overpriced coffee is only something she gets when she gets a Starbucks gift card or something. Narrowing his eyes, Keith starts doing better, which meant Lance looks over in shock and misses a few moves. By the end of the song, they both get a five star ranking but Keith’s score is just a few hundred over Lance’s, making him the victor.

“What the-- how did you--” Lance is stammering over the score while Keith is trying to catch his breath. “I call cheats! The game is hacked!”

“Do you want to verse me again?” Keith questions, raising an eyebrow. He prays he doesn’t want to but--

“Uh, yeah?”  _Goddammit_. “But after you verse Hunk.”

“I’m telling you, Lance –  _I can’t dance_.”

“Yes, you can, big guy.”

“ _Lance_.”

“We can choose an easy song, Hunk,” Keith offers. “ _Cake by the Ocean_  has the same dance moves for both people? So it should be relatively easy. But I won’t force you if you don’t want to.”

Hunk takes a moment before he sighs and gives in. Keith is still giving him the look of  _you don’t have to_ , but Hunk just shakes his head and takes Lance’s spot. Keith scrolls over  _Cake by the Ocean_  and waits for Hunk to be ready before he starts the game. They both move well at first, hitting every note perfectly. Then Hunk starts getting better and better, and Keith’s staring at him instead of the screen. And  _this guy_ says he couldn’t dance.

Well, he did miss a few notes, but that’s not terrible? Not even  _bad_. Even Keith has missed notes when he played the game by himself. Doesn’t mean he was perfect.

When the song is over, Keith is  _definitely_ more out of breath because he played three songs in a row. When he played with Pidge, they at least took  _breaks_ in between songs so Pidge didn’t collapse from exhaustion. And even if Keith worked out a lot either by his lonesome or with Shiro, dance games could  _really_ exhaust you. He blindly grabs at his water bottle and drinks quite a bit out of it before pulling it away from his mouth. When he looks over at Hunk, he notices the big guy was out of breath too, and there’s sweat visible on his his face. Keith taps the side of Hunk’s arm with his water bottle, offering the rest of it to him. There’s still a good amount of water still in it, and at first, Hunk hesitates.

“Are you-- are you sure?” he questions and Keith gives a nod. He takes the bottle and mutters a thanks before downing the rest of the water. “Sorry.. I told them I wasn’t a good dancer? My score didn’t match up to yours.”

“Does that matter?” Keith questions, tilting his head. “I don’t think it does. It’s fine if you mess up during the songs – no one is perfect, big man. I think you performed perfectly, actually.”

“I-- what? You think so?”

“Oh  _hell yeah_.” Keith tells him, a grin on his face. “You’re better than most people I know. Minus Pidge, of course. I wouldn’t mind playing this game with you again.. sometime.”

“Yeah!” Hunk sounds  _ecstatic_ from that, but the loud cheer makes Keith’s body stiffen a little. But at least he looks a little happier from Keith’s words? “Definitely, dude! I’m game!”

Keith’s grin is wider than before, and the four of them decide to take a small break from  _Just Dance_  to eat a little more and drink some water just to make sure they don’t pass out from dancing all night. When they get back to the game, Pidge and Lance dance together, then Lance and Hunk, and then.. Lance challenges Keith again. Keith’s a little exhausted by this point, so Lance ends up winning, making Lance cheer and telling Keith to  _suck it_.

“You just won because I’m  _tired_ ,” Keith admits, narrowing his eyes at Lance. This was too much socializing for him; he needs to regain his energy by sleeping. “I think I’m going to head off to bed.”

“Dude, it’s only like.. six-thirty?”

“It’s almost  _seven_ , Lance.” Pidge corrects. Holy crap, have they been playing for that long?

“Whatever. Close enough,” Lance rolls his eyes. “It’s too early to sleep! Or are you just upset that the great  _Lancey-Lance_  beat you at your own game?”

“I’m not upset!” Keith tells him, voice raised. He didn’t  _mean_ to sound like he was shouting at him, but he’s just  _so tired_  and this guy is  _annoying_. “Dancing just takes a lot out of person. You can’t tell me you’re  _not tired_  after all this dancing.”

“I.. okay, you got a point,” Lance mutters. “But still! Too early to sleep! We can do a movie night, at least!”

“Would that work?” Hunk questions, eyeing Keith. “Some of Lance’s movie suggestions can put Pidge to sleep. And you know her--”

“She  _rarely sleeps_ ,” Keith finishes and lets out a quiet snort. “Good point.. okay. Fine. Movie it is.”

“I should be offended, but that’s so damn true.” Pidge says, already knowing that she doesn’t sleep  _enough_  and it takes a goddamn movie to put her to sleep. “That means Keith’s choosing the movie!”

“You know my movie choices suck, Pidge. Unless you  _really_ want to watch  _Sharknado_  for the twentieth time.”

“Disney it is!”

Keith knew Pidge would go from  _Sharknado_  to Disney, because Keith  _does_ have terrible movie choices – in his defense,  _Sharknado_ is actually a really great movie. Shiro likes it! Hunk pushes the couch back to it’s original spot and the coffee table is moved back to it’s original spot, as well. They all go on the couch, where Pidge decides to lay on everyone’s laps to watch the movie. Thankfully the Wii has a Netflix option, and the four of them go through the list before choosing  _Lilo & Stitch_ as their movie to complete the night. A quarter of the way towards the movie, Keith ends up resting his head on Hunk’s shoulder,  _completely_ exhausted from the whole  _Just Dance_  competition they had today. Not even halfway into the movie, he ends up dozing off.

A little bit more than halfway through the movie, the rest of the group notices Keith had dozed off.

“The nerve of this guy,” Lance says, frowning at the sleeping Keith. He reaches over and pokes the guys cheek with his index finger. “Sleeping while watching a Disney movie. I’m offended.”

“He  _did say_  he was tired, Lance,” Hunk says, defending his sleeping roommate. “He had class at 8AM today. And the first day of college is  _always_ exhausting. Can’t say I blame him for falling asleep.”

“Keith likes to suffer,” Pidge chimes in. “He probably woke up at 6AM  _just_ to make sure he got to class on time.”

“What the hell.”

“How about we stop the movie here and we can all sleep?” Hunk offers, staring down at the sleeping Keith who is using his shoulder as a pillow. “I can carry him to bed? He’ll be more comfier there.”

“Pretty sure Pidge and I will stay up a little while longer, but sure, Hunk. We can do that.”

After stopping the movie, Pidge moves carefully to unhook the system. With Lance’s help, they gather up everything and head off to their own dorm for the night. Hunk’s trying to figure out a way to carry Keith without waking him, but it turns out, this guy is a  _heavy sleeper_  when he was exhausted. He’s careful anyway when he carries Keith to bed, feeling bad about intruding when he enters Keith’s bedroom, but he’s sure Keith wouldn’t mind? At least he hopes he doesn’t.

Keith looks.. so peaceful sleeping, so Hunk notices as he’s tucking him in. After Hunk had tucked him in, Keith had moved and rolled over on his side, curling up in a small ball. Hunk thought it was  _super cute_ , but resisted the urge to coo at his sleeping roommate. Instead, he leaves the room, muttering a quick  _‘good night_ ’ to Keith before he retreats to his own room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The hardest thing about Modern AU's is when you try to describe an alien but make them look _human_. I tried choose characters that best fit certain roles, too, and there will be more characters making introductions in future chapters!  
>  Also, for the record, whenever my siblings and I play Mario Party, Donkey Kong whoops our asses. So in Mario Kart, DK is the same thing. It's just from personal experiences that I made DK win.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s been nearly three weeks since sophomore year began, and it’s going really great so far! For the most part, that is. Keith finally gets a break to work on his bike, with a little help from Hunk. The afternoon they spend together makes him feel.. _something_. He just can’t figure out what this feeling is so different than when he hangs out with Pidge.

It’s been nearly three weeks since Keith’s sophomore year began. It’s been going well..

.. _for the most part_.

He hasn’t had to put red bull into his coffee yet, so that  _should_ be a good sign. He meant to e-mail Plaxum about the book required for her class, but instead he spoke with her face-to-face after class on his second day. She was actually rather pleased he gathered up the courage to speak with her face-to-face instead of e-mailing her like most students were doing, so she gave him the information for him to download the required book with no trouble. (“Keep this link for yourself, though. Don’t share it with the others!” she had told him. Which wouldn’t be an issue considering he really didn’t have  _friends_  to give it to.)

As for Slav’s class –  _well_.. He ended up proving Slav wrong. Keith was able to get through Slav’s class with no issues for the first week, and by the start of the second week, Slav seemed impressed to see Keith still in class. And to still be there for nearly three weeks now, Keith’s slowly to realize that Slav’s class was a  _mistake_. Though he’s going to stay in there, because Keith’s one to prove people wrong. Plus if Shiro and Allura got through this class, he can too.

Keith ended up buying the book for Thace’s class on his second day when he was supposed to be having lunch. There’s a lot of interesting information in there, and a  _lot_ of tips. It’s really helpful, and Keith found himself looking at that the most during his free time. Since the book was now  _his_ , he ended up highlighting most important parts of the book, thinking he’d have to come back to it later.

And after the first week, Luxia called him back for an interview. The end of the second week, he was called in to fill out paperwork since he got the job. He works Thursday’s, Friday’s, and Saturday’s; from three in the afternoon to nine-thirty at night. The schools bookstore closes at nine, but that extra thirty minutes is used for clean up and shutting down the store. On Sunday’s the store is closed, which is fine, too. Keith doesn’t have anybody to hang out with besides Shiro, Allura, or the possibility of hanging out with Pidge unless Lance still found him threatening to their love life.

Speaking of Shiro, after he had spoken with him via text about his glasses and contacts, that weekend they made plans to go out for lunch so Shiro can see how Keith’s first week was going. Although Shiro wanted Allura to tag along, so Keith asked Pidge if she wanted to come, seeing as how Lance had classes plus Shiro was buying. (“Free food? I’m in.” was Pidge’s response. “And don’t worry about Lance. He doesn’t see you as threatening because he doesn’t see me liking a guy with hair like yours.” Even though  _nothing_ was wrong with Keith’s hair.)

During Keith’s free time, he’s been working on Red. He figured out the problem with her, so he believes, and now he’s been trying everything to fix it. He feels bad for treating her so poorly over the summer, and only spending a short amount of time with her each day because of his new college life, but it  _seems like_  Red understands. At least he’s doing  _something_ and not neglecting her completely. He just needs to spend a whole day on her instead of a few minutes to a couple of hours.  _Then_ he’ll be able to fix her and ride her again.

Though besides it being nearly three weeks since sophomore year began, it’s  _also_ been the same amount time since Keith fell asleep on Hunk, Lance, and Pidge during their hang out session. The next time he saw Hunk he apologized for it, even though Hunk didn’t mind it in the slightest. He forgave him instantly, and when Keith tried apologizing to Pidge, she had scoffed and waved it off like nothing. As for apologizing to Lance, it wasn’t so easy. He wanted Keith to repay him back before Pidge kicked him in the shin. (“Okay,  _fine_ , you’re forgiven! I can’t have  _any_ fun..” Lance said after he was kicked. But Keith _would have_ repaid him somehow for falling asleep on them.)

At least he was forgiven, and Hunk and Pidge continued to invite him out even if Lance didn’t  _seem_ to like the idea but was always the one to have the most fun with Keith in the end.

It’s now the Thursday before the third week of sophomore year comes to an end, and Keith admits to himself he’s surprised he has lasted three weeks here. When he first arrived, he wanted to go home  _immediately_ _–_ and classes didn’t even start up then! Shiro seems proud of him for lasting this long, and he’s always sending him messages via text to give him words of encouragement. Keith appreciates it, really, but feels bad for always keeping Shiro on ‘read’ since he’s not sure how to respond to them. Though it doesn’t seem like Shiro ever gets upset at him for it, maybe because he understands how Keith is and isn’t going to force him to respond to ever text message he sends.

Classes for Keith are over for the day, and Luxia informed him that he didn’t have to come into work because she had a family emergency. She couldn’t leave the bookstore without a manager, and Keith understands that. That just gave him more time to work on Red. So now he’s outside, in a tank top and a pair of jeans that are ripped in numerous places and bleach stains – but still wearable! - and his hair tied back into a high ponytail. The sun is out, with no clouds in the sky, and Keith is pretty sure he’s going to get burnt if he’s out here for a long period of time. But what else is he supposed to do? He doesn’t have sunscreen nor the money to purchase something like that right now.

He’s been sitting outside since at  _least_ two-fifteen, and he hasn’t been really keeping track of time either. Not like it matters. He doesn’t have any plans, and he doesn’t have work until tomorrow afternoon. He could spend  _all night_ working on Red. Although he’s not sure if that would be allowed.  _Technically_ he’s still on campus,  _and_ by the dorms, so shouldn’t it be alright? Then again, he’d have to go all the way back inside to get a flashlight in order for him to continue working on Red. Plus it’d be better to work with natural sunlight than a flashlight.

Keith lets out a breath and leans back, looking back at all the guides he had bought back when he first started working on Red. He’s more than certain something is wrong with the carburetor, but he’s not a  _hundred percent sure_  on how to fix it.

“Why can’t you just talk to me, Red?” Keith grumbles, glaring at his bike. “This would make things easier..”

“Keith?”

Keith jumps, looking up to see Hunk standing next to Red. He has paper bags in his arms, and the door to a golden yellow truck open – must be Hunk’s truck. The colour fits a guy like him. Keith didn’t even  _notice_ Hunk pulling into the parking spot next to him. Was he that too focused on Red to  _not notice_ something like this? What if someone came behind him and tried to murder him and steal Red? (Now he’s thinking too much. Not that he’s worried.)

“ _Hunk_ , I swear to  _fuck_. You nearly gave me a  _heart attack_ ,” Keith tells him, raising a hand to his chest as he lets out a breath to calm down. “How long have you even been there?”

“Long enough to see you struggling with your bike and hoping they would talk,” Hunk admits. Keith’s face feels a little warm and he’s pretty sure it’s out of embarrassment but he’s going to blame it on the sun. “They’re a beautiful bike though. Nice colour.”

“Er, thanks. I somewhat built her? Not completely. But, uhm-- she was a beaten up a bike and I kind of restored her?” Keith says, his eyes darting from Hunk back to Red. “It was difficult, but she ran smoothly until halfway through summer.”

“Is that why you’re out here now? To try to fix her?” Hunk asks, getting a nod as a response. “Huh. Let me put groceries away and then I’ll come back down to help you.”

Wait what.  _What what what_. Not that Keith doesn’t mind someone else touching his bike – actually, he’s been  _meaning_ to go to an actual mechanic before summer ended, but he had no money to do that – but someone just offering like that? Out of the blue? He’s staring up at Hunk with wide eyes, and it’s pretty quiet between the two of them now. And then Hunk realizes he made a mistake, or so he thinks.

“Er- if you don’t mind that is! I’m just an engineering major and I wouldn’t mind helping you out, you know?” Hunk’s panicking and Keith opens his mouth to say something but Hunk continues to ramble. “I help Lance all the time that it just comes naturally?  _Baby_  likes screwing up on Lance at the worst times. I’m more convinced that it’s all the bumper stickers, but Lance claims he  _takes really good care of her_. Anyway--!”

“Hunk.  _Breathe_.” Keith interrupts, putting his hands up and lowering them, an action to try to get the other male to calm down. “Relax. It’s fine if you want to help me with Red. I don’t mind? I’m just not used to people offering to help me? I’ve been working on Red by myself and I really appreciate the help. I’d repay you somehow.”

“Dude, no. No need to repay me? Any reason to help me study engineering is  _great_. Plus I don’t get much of a chance to work on motorcycles. Especially with one as beautiful as Red,” Hunk says, glancing down at the bike. “Let me just-- I’ll be back down?”

“Let me help you with the groceries at least, big man. I’m not accepting a  _no_  as an answer either.”

Keith gets up from his spot off the ground, dusting off the gravel that had gotten on his jeans. He takes some bags from Hunk, and the both of them go up to their shared dorm room. He helps him put away the groceries, too, and Hunk asks him if he could finish up while he changes into something more comfortable. (“It’s hot out, and I need a tank top on if I’m going to be out there. I’ll be ready in a second though!” Hunk explains as he walks backwards out of the kitchen.)

And as Keith’s putting away cans of vegetables, he’s thinking: ‘ _What kind of domestic shit is this_?’ Like, isn’t this the type of shit you read in badly written romance novels and movies? Even Shiro and Allura aren’t  _this_  domestic. Keith’s reaching, trying to put away another can, but he’s  _short_ and the cabinets are  _high up_. Granted, he’s not terribly short, but he has to stand on his toes in order for him to put the cans away. Shiro always teases him about his height, too, even if their height isn’t  _too big_ of a difference, but it’s big enough to be noticeable.

Keith huffs, and goes to grab a chair, getting up to stand on it  _right when_ Hunk walks back in.

“..What are you doing.” is Hunk’s first reaction. “Please don’t tell me you’re going to use that chair to put away the cans.”

“Maybe?” Keith says, already having one foot on the seat of the chair. Hunk gives him a disapproving look. “Listen, the top shelf is hard to reach and I  _did_ say I was going to help you out.”

“ _You’re going to get hurt_.”

“No I’m not.” Keith steps up on the chair and Hunk holds his breath. Meanwhile Keith’s reaching down on the kitchen counter to grab the rest of the cans. “I’ve done more dangerous things in my life besides this. But those are stories for another time.”

“For  _crying out loud_ , Keith,” Hunk lets out a breath, not believing his roommate his like this. Though Keith manages to finish putting all the cans in the cabinet, then he gets off the chair and pushes it back under the table. “I shouldn’t be surprised. You drive a motorcycle, and motorcycles are dangerous. And when we first met, you said you had  _knives_.”

“Correction –  _Pidge_ said that. I just confirmed it,” Keith shrugs. “ _You’re_ just lucky that I don’t--”

Keith pauses, losing his train of thought when his eyes finally focus on what Hunk’s wearing. There’s a white tank top with blue stripes across the chest, a tool belt on his waist, and blue jeans that look like they’ve seen better days. Keith swallows hard when he sees Hunk’s arms; they’re big and nicely toned that they could put Shiro’s arms to shame.  _Heck_ , those arms could wreck Keith’s gay ass. But he’s not going to say that out loud. That would be weird. Would it be it weird? It most  _definitely_ would be weird.

“I’m lucky that you don’t..?”

“Er, that I don’t have the knives with me. I do have a really nice rainbow one?” Keith says. “But, uhm,  _anyway_ \-- back to Red?”

Hunk opens his mouth to question the whole knife thing, but he decides he  _doesn’t want to know_. The two of them leave the dorm and go back to Red, where they both stay kneeling there for a while. Hunk’s doing most of the work though as Keith’s explaining Red to him – how he fixed her, what he thinks is wrong now – and at some point, they start talking about themselves and their majors. Of course Keith already knows Hunk’s, but he’s asking him how he got into it exactly because he really  _is_ interested. Hunk starts explaining his mother and his grandmother on his mothers side both were mechanics, and he wanted to follow in their footsteps. While his father and his grandfathers were all cooks or bakers. (“My dream is to create a dine where you can get your car fixed and enjoy a nice meal while it’s being fixed.” Hunk explains. “It sounds silly, I know, but it’d be nice!”  _Keith didn’t find this dream silly at all_.)

“What about you?” Hunk asks and Keith freezes, blinking at him. “Your major.”

“Er, photography,” Keith says and it seems like Hunk’s eyes light up from it. “I’ve been into it since I was kid. Well, I mostly drew rather than taking photos but I seemed to have a photographic memory?”

“Dude, that’s so cool? Is there a certain dream you’re aiming for or you’re just taking it because you like it?”

“I want it to be more than a hobby honestly, but for right now? Photography and drawing kind of make me happy,” Keith admits with a shrug. “It calms me down sometimes. Drawing mostly actually. I want to get better at taking photos, too, and get tips outside of the internet. It’s.. nice. Especially when photos are taken so well you think you’re  _there_.”

“I know what you mean. Kind of, anyway? My eldest sister was in a photography club back in high school and she’d go on school trips to take pictures of the forests they went camping in. When I saw those photos, it felt like I was there. Hearing the crickets chirping at night, the sound of leaves and branches crunching underneath your feet. The sound of the creeks and rivers you come across--” Hunk lets out a sigh. “I still have some of her pictures. Not with me, but I could get her to send some over if you were ever interested. She also does wedding pictures when she’s not teaching preschoolers.”

“Uhm-- sure? That sounds.. great.”

What even  _is this_. Is that what  _friendship_ is? He never felt this way when he hung around Pidge. They usually joked around and talked about cryptids and conspiracies. Keith feels  _happy_ , he guesses, that he has another friend that isn’t  _Pidge_. Especially one that is willing to help him fix Red and offer inspirational photos if he was interested. And he was  _definitely_ interested. But he’s more interested to see where this friendship is going to go too. Keith feels a little happy that his interest in knives and his early school schedule didn’t bother Hunk any either. He’d  _hate_ to scare him off and force them to get new roommates.

The sun is starting to set when Hunk is fixing final adjustments on Keith’s bike, having had put on a headlamp as soon as he noticed the sun starting to set. The sky had changed from a pretty blue to yellowish golds and oranges, a cloudless sky having a sky scattered with tints of purple on the whites. Keith wishes he had his camera with him to get a picture of this perfect moment, but he has  _so many pictures_ of sunsets and sunrises. Then again, you couldn’t have too many pictures of the same thing. Each day, and no matter where you were, the sunset and sunrise always seemed to be different. Keith’s mesmerized by the sunset, in a trance until Hunk  _cheers_ , making Keith jump.

“Done!” he shouts out, stretching his arms out. “She should be running beautifully now. Though don’t overexert her  _too much_. It’s like breaking a bone and you think you’re better, but if you use it too many times, it’ll start hurting again.”

“Ah..” Keith’s still in a bit of trance from the sunset, and how the shadows drift over Hunk’s face perfectly. “Uhm, thank you. I wish I could repay you more.”

“No sweat, man! I really loved doing this,” Hunk admits, a wide grin on his face. “I never really worked on a motorcycle before, but I’m more than certain I did it right. Why don’t you for a quick ride around the parking lot? Then we can get cleaned up and have dinner!”

“I’ll help you cook, if you still feel like cooking? Or buy takeout,” Keith shrugs, and then decides to reach a hand out to help Hunk up. Hunk accepts it, and Keith tugs him up. Hunk seems a little surprised at the strength Keith has in him, but he doesn’t say anything about it. “I know I probably shouldn’t worry about it, but I’d feel bad if I don’t do something in return.”

“Fine, fine. Now go on Red! I’m sure she missed you.”

A grin spreads across Keith’s face and he cleans up the tools he brought with him real quick before pulling his keys out of his pocket. After getting on Red, he puts the key into the ignition, turning the key and holds his breath. She purrs  _wonderfully_ , and Keith feels excitement pool up in his stomach, his chest feeling warm and his heart swelling with joy as he’s able to ride her again. Kicking up the kickstand, he backs out of his parking spot, making sure he’s watching out for Hunk and goes for a quick lap around the parking lot. It was a  _large parking lot –_  it has to be, for a college – so it takes him a while before he’s gets back to Hunk. He ends up taking a second lap just because he didn’t want the moment to end. But he stops on the second lap, putting his left foot down as he stands up, staring down at Red with his eyes sparkling. Holy  _shit_.

“She sounds great!” Hunk cheers, walking back over to the bike when Keith parks back in his spot. “I’ll keep checking on her if you ever need me to.”

“If you check up on her, I’ll have to start paying you, Hunk.”

“I’m not taking money from you,” Hunk says, holding his hands up and shaking his head. “No way, no how. I like seeing how happy it made you when Red was fixed. You seemed to be having a good time going around the lot. And, well, your eyes are still sparkling and you have a big grin on your face right now.”

Oh shit, was he still grinning? He thinks his cheeks have gone numb from smiling so hard, so that may be why he didn’t notice before.

“Your happiness is pretty much the only payment I need,” Hunk adds in with a shrug and a small smile. “You look.. nice when you’re smiling.”

“I..” How is he supposed to react to  _that_?! “Thank.. you..?”

“Was that too much? That sounded like that was too much.”

“No! No no,” Now Keith’s panicking over this. “I’m just not used to compliments.. is all. I appreciate them really, I just-- I just normally don’t get them? Often? To actually react better to them..”

“Looks like I have to compliment you more often then!” Hunk declares. “Anyway, lets get cleaned up, and since you seem to be  _insisting_ on dinner, we can order takeout? Chinese sounds good tonight. I always feel like cooking, but I  _really_ feel like Chinese tonight.”

“Chinese it is.”

They take turns taking a showers, and as soon as Keith gets into the shower, he thinks he has made a mistake. He  _did_ get a sunburn from earlier, and since he likes really hot showers, the hot water on a sunburn is  _not_ a great feeling. He hisses, and he quickly changes the water in hopes of some relief, but it  _still hurts_. He finishes his shower quickly though, and changes into a different tank top and sweat pants, drying his hair as he steps out into the living room, where Hunk was sitting on the couch, flipping through his phone. Though when Keith walks into the room, he looks up, and he has to do a double take because  _fuck_ , Keith’s arms and shoulders are  _terribly red_.

“Dude, that’s a terrible sunburn.”

“ _I know_ ,” Keith says as he walks over to the couch, gently sitting down next to Hunk. “I’ll live. Find a Chinese menu?”

“Yeah, I already wrote down what I wanted,” Hunk says and then hands his phone over. “Here. Look through. I’m going to get my Aloe Vera.”

“You’re--  _what_?”

“Aloe Vera,” Hunk repeats. “It’s a plant that helps with burns, but many people have made it into a lotion. It should help with your sunburn.”

Keith opens his mouth to say something, but Hunk leaves the room before he could. How – just  _how –_  did he get stuck with such a nice roommate? Or, well, he couldn’t really say  _stuck_ , more like  _blessed_. Keith lets out a breath before scrolling through the menu on Hunk’s phone, picking out a few inexpensive things on there. He didn’t have a huge appetite most of the time, and he doesn’t want to waste food either. He knows if he puts it away for later, he probably won’t end up eating it. After figuring out what he wanted, he writes it down below Hunk’s order and pulls out his own phone, punching in the number but not pressing the call button just yet. He wants to ask Hunk to make sure that’s all they’re getting before he orders it.

And speak of the devil – more like  _angel_  considering how nice Hunk was – his roommate comes back out, holding a lotion bottle.

“I’m  _just about_ to order,” Keith tells him as soon as he sees him. “Is this all you want? I want to make sure before I order.”

“Yeah. That should be fine,” Hunk responds and Keith presses the call button, sticking it on speaker. “When you get off the phone though, I’ll put the Aloe Vera on you? It’s better if someone helps you.”

Keith nods and when someone picks up, he starts ordering. The conversation is pretty short, and the lady on the other line seems to know the Garrison well enough. He scribbles down the total, and after the call ends, he leans back against the couch.

“It should be here between forty-five minutes to an hour,” Keith tells Hunk, tilting his head back to look at his roommate. “That’s plenty of time for the Aloe Vera to take effect right?”

“Oh yeah. Especially since you only have burns on your shoulders and down your arms,” Hunk says. “You know, I can’t believe you got such a bad sunburn? How long were you out there anyway?”

“Let’s see.. it’s nearly eight now, I got out of my last class at one-thirty. I was back at the dorms by ten to two--” Keith starts listing off the time, trying to do math in his head. “I don’t know? Five hours, give or take? I just burn easy. So don’t take me to the beach.”

“Oh no, you’ll be going to the beach. Just with five coats of sunscreen.”

Keith snorts and Hunk joins him back on the couch, starting to rub the Aloe Vera on his shoulders and arms. Hunk’s  _really gentle_ and Keith can tell he has  _super soft_ hands. And such  _big hands_ too. They’re both quiet as Hunk helps him  out, and when Hunk’s done, Keith sits there for a while, giving the Aloe Vera a moment to help the burn. He already feels some relief thankfully. Hunk had just went to wash his hands and put away the Aloe Vera, only taking a few minutes before he comes back out into the living room.

“You know, Lance wanted to arrange a study group for this weekend?” Hunk says. “Most likely for Sunday, since I know you work on weekends. I know we’re all not in the same classes, but it would be nice. We can all motivate each other.”

“I.. I’d like that,” Keith responds, a small smile on his face. “But how did you know my work schedule?”

“It’s not that hard to find out where my roommate is all day and why he comes back at nearly ten at night,” Hunk tells him with a shrug. “And I know you’re not a bad guy, so you couldn’t be doing anything illegal. You seem like you keep to yourself mostly so no college parties. And most college kids don’t really have much of a choice than to screw up their sleep schedule because they either like to suffer or because they can only work nights since have their early classes.”

“ _Wow_.” Keith’s still shocked that Hunk knows that much about him, and this is the first time they really hung out with each other  _alone_. Usually Lance or Pidge tag along, or Keith hangs out with Pidge. Plus their college schedules are completely different so it’s pretty easy to  _not_ see each other. “..You don’t think I’m a bad guy?”

“You may have knives, but a bad guy wouldn’t offer to pay me back after me fixing his motorcycle. Or would have stolen from already. Or wouldn’t have a huge smile on his face from riding his motorcycle again – a smile so big it puts puppies, kittens, and baby laughter to shame.”

“Hunk,  _please_.”

“It’s true!”

It’s not too much longer after that when dinner arrives. Keith pays for the whole thing, as he said in the beginning, as much as Hunk complains about it. They sit on the couch, where Hunk eats his meal off a plate and silently judges Keith for eating his straight out of the container. They flip through channels together, until a crime show comes on they both seemed interested in. It’s halfway through the episode though, so there’s no gory body in the beginning, lucky for them. They get through the half episode and a full one until they have eaten their full. Hunk mutes the television as he leans back against the couch, holding his stomach.

“That was  _so good_ ,” Hunk groans out in satisfaction. “I can’t eat another bite.”

“You can’t say that. You haven’t gotten to the fortune cookie yet,” Keith says, holding Hunk’s cookie in his hand, it still wrapped in plastic. “They’re the best part of the dinner. We have to know the winning lottery numbers so we can pay off our tuition, Hunk.”

Hunk laughs at this, and slowly sits up, taking his fortune cookie from Keith. They open the cookies together, and Hunk reads his fortune first.

“ _Measure your life by counting the precious moments_. I do that  _already_.” Hunk says then reads off, in an announcers voice: “Winning numbers are.. thirty-six, eighteen, nine, thirty, twenty-two, and zero. What does your say, Keith?”

“ _An unexpected relationship will become permanent_ ,” Keith reads off, silent for a few seconds before realizing: Is his relationship with Hunk going to become  _permanent_? Or, well, this  _friendship_ anyway? A friendship still counted as a relationship, didn’t it? “Uhm.. winning numbers are twenty-one, seventeen, eight, thirty-five, one, and twenty-nine.”

“Man, that’s a really good fortune though? Make sure you keep that close to you!” Hunk says, stuffing a piece of cookie into his mouth. “Put it in your wallet or something. That is  _really some good luck_.”

“Uh-huh..” Keith stares down at the paper, not really certain on what it means exactly. He bites his cookie though, lost in thought. Hunk’s talking about  _something_ , he could hear him talking but Keith’s not paying attention to what Hunk’s talking about.

“Keith?”

“Huh? What?” Keith snaps out of his thoughts when Hunk calls out to him, head turning towards the other. “Sorry, I was just.. thinking. What were you saying?”

“Just about luck and stuff like that,” Hunk shrugs. “Do you believe in it?”

“Uh.. Kind of? I don’t really believe it but.. you know,” Keith responds. Considering the life he went through, he had his share of  _bad luck_. The only good luck he ever had was meeting Shiro. Then it seems like his life was turned around. “What about you? Do you believe in luck?”

“Oh yeah. I feel like I had a good luck since the start of the year,” Hunk says. “Especially since I met you? I say I’m  _pretty lucky_.”

_Oh_. Keith’s unsure of what to say about that. He feels.. happy? Or so he supposes. At least Hunk thinks meeting him was  _good luck_ instead of  _bad luck_. Keith’s not much of a people person, and when he hangs out with Hunk, Lance, and Pidge all day, it could get pretty draining. But hanging out with Hunk today wasn’t draining at all. In fact, Keith thinks all his energy rejuvenated from being with Hunk.

“It’s getting pretty late,” Hunk suddenly says, stretching his arms above his head. “I think it’s time to hit the sack.”

“Uhm.. yeah,” Keith agrees, even though he probably won’t go to bed right away. “I’ll clean this up.”

“No. No no. Ill help you with that,” Hunk says, already getting up from the couch and starting to gather up the leftover food. “I’m not going to leave this whole mess to you. It’s a  _shared dorm_ , Keith. We share the cleaning up duty.”

Keith has no complaints and starts gathering up the garbage. It’s fairly easy considering the large paper bag the Chinese was sent in acted as its own trash bag. A lot of the garbage was placed in there – mostly things that can be  _recycled –_  and left off to the side as Hunk washes his dishes off. Keith dries them and they’re all put away, along with the leftovers which was mostly Hunk’s food and the rest of Keith’s rice.

“I’ll take care of the garbage first thing in the morning,” Hunk says. “No need to take it out when it’s completely dark out.”

“Point taken,” Keith ties up the garbage bag though, to make it easier for Hunk in the morning. “Although I don’t mind going out in the dark.”

“I’m not letting you go outside when it’s dark out,” Hunk tells him, eyes narrow. “Anyway, I’m going to go to bed. Good night.”

“Night, Hunk,” Keith says, watching the other man starting to walk out of the kitchen, but then Keith decides to stop him. “Uhm, hey, Hunk?”

“Yeah?”

“I really had a good time today. Thank you.”

There’s a smile on Hunk’s face, “No need to thank me, man. Hanging out with you is pretty relaxing compared to hanging out with Lance and Pidge. I’d be happy to hang out with you again.”

“Y-yeah. Me too.”

Hunk leaves to go to his own room, and Keith waits a moment before going to his own. He sits at his desk though, wanting to work on schoolwork, but instead he finds himself taking out his sketchbook and drawing in there. He’s not even paying much attention to  _what_ he’s drawing until he finishes the sketch. As he looks at the picture, he realizes it resembles Hunk and his wide grin. Why was he drawing  _Hunk_ all of a sudden? Between the fortune in his cookie and this, Keith’s confused. What on earth could this all  _mean_?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this will be a fic that will be updated every two weeks, to give you guys a better idea of when it'll be updated!   
> Also, for the record, I did a _lot_ of research for this chapter, since I don't know much about engineering or motorcycles.   
>  I'm having a lot of fun working on this fic!! I'm going to keep at it until it's finished, I promise!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk wakes up early the next morning, with the plans of hanging out with Lance and Pidge at noon. So he has _plenty_ of time to kill before he's able to hang out with them. Thankfully Keith is there to kill some time with him. Hunk really thinks Keith's a good guy and a _really_ good friend, too! But Lance and Pidge think it's something more than just _friendship_.

Hunk wakes up early the next day. Well, he normally wakes up early – at least according to Pidge, who claims even  _noon_ is too early to wake up. But this time, he wakes up a quarter to seven in the morning, and he’s laying in bed staring up at his ceiling.

When he first moved in, he put curtains in his room, and they’re partially open, letting the sunlight drift in from behind the curtains. Hunk lays there for a while longer before he decides  _he needs to get up_. He has plans with Lance and Pidge for today, which will start after noon since Lance decided to take a class at ten am. It may only last an hour, and that’s the only class Lance has, but they’re going to let Pidge sleep. You do  _not_ wake Pidge Gunderson up before noon. Actually, don’t wake her up at  _all_. She’ll bite your hand off, and no amount of coffee would make her forgive you. Unfortunately Lance learned that the hard way.

Lance is a  _romantic_ , and tried to make breakfast in bed for Pidge, with strong coffee and kisses to her face. She complained and wanted to  _murder_ Lance the first time he did it. Lance had to buy her expensive coffee for a good week for her to forgive him. And even then, Pidge still hates Lance for it. Lance knows better now, but when he thinks Pidge will wake up, he’ll have coffee prepared for her and shove a mug in her hands. She’d sip it when it’s steaming hot – no problem! Then she’d grumble a  _thank you_ to Lance and give him a little nudge with her arm. She’d cuddle up with Lance when she’s more awake, and give him the affection he loves, as long as they don’t do it in public. And Lance respects that.

Hunk lets out a breath and decides he should get out of bed. He sits up at first, and throws his legs over the side of his bed. He gets out of bed and makes way to his desk, where he had set his outfit for today the night before. When he retreated to his bedroom for the night last night, he made sure to have everything ready just in case he slept longer than he wanted to. He grabs his clothes and his basket that contains his hygienic supplies, setting them down in the bathroom and starting the shower. His showers don’t take long, about fifteen minutes at most, but he dries off in the bathroom and changes there instead of going to his bedroom in just a towel. When he roomed with Lance last year, Lance didn’t mind, but considering Hunk’s rooming with  _Keith_ , he didn’t want to make the guy uncomfortable.

Hunk towel dries his hair before sliding his shirt over his head. It’s a simple black shirt with ‘ _Pew Pew_ ’ in yellow outlined letters, in a  _Star Wars_  font both on the top and the bottom of six white ‘ _pew_ ’s that are in the middle. He, Lance, and Pidge all watched  _Star Wars_ shirts, and they all have  _Star Wars_ themed shirts. He doesn’t think Lance and Pidge will wear theirs, but it seems like forever since Hunk has worn this one, so he might as well for today, right? He matches this with a simple pair of black jeans, and goes without his headband for today. He leaves the bathroom with a handful of things, going straight for his room to finish getting ready. He slips his shoes on and checks the time – seven thirty-three am – before going for the kitchen to make breakfast.

As soon as he walks out of his room, the door to their shared dorm opens and Hunk looks over. The door shuts and Keith walks in, a bag on his shoulder, his hair tied back, and wearing a simple black tank top that looks  _too tight_ on him to be comfortable and a pair of black sweat pants. They lock eyes for a moment, and Hunk is more staring at Keith’s appearance to find words. He wants to ask where he was, and the question is echoing through his head, but the words  _just_ won’t come out.

“Going out somewhere?” Keith beats him to the punch and Hunk breaks his attention from Keith’s appearance to his eyes instead.

“Uhm-- _yeah_! Pidge, Lance, and I are all hanging out today,” Hunk responds with a quick nod. “Though not for another like.. five hours? Lance has a class at ten, and Pidge likes sleeping until noon – or well, she wakes up when she wants.”

“Don’t I know that.” Keith snorts, rolling his eyes as he walks further into the room, dropping his bag onto the couch. “I learned that the hard way. I woke her up once and she nearly kicked me out of the house. I told her that her parents were making pancakes, and she would  _not_ forgive me for  _weeks_.”

“Hey, I know better than to wake her up. You and Lance had to learn the hard way to figure that out. Well.. Lance did it  _twice_.”

“What did Lance do?”

“Oh boy.  _That_ is a story. I’ll tell you while I’m making breakfast,” Hunk says, and gestures Keith to follow him into the kitchen. “I’ll make you something, too. And you have no right to argue with me.”

As soon as Keith opens his mouth  _to_ argue, but Hunk knew it was coming. He sighs, shutting his mouth, and follows Hunk into the kitchen. Hunk’s starting to get ingredients together, starting with getting out the milk, butter, and an egg. Then he goes to one of the cabinets and gets out the vanilla extract, flour, sugar, baking powder, and the salt. He likes making things from scratch when he has the time to do it – and he has  _plenty_ of time to kill right now, so now is the  _perfect time_ to make fluffy pancakes from scratch! He can use pancake mix, and make this ten times quicker, but he prefers this way. He measures everything out, melts the butter, and as he’s mixing everything together, he’s telling Keith about how Lance fucked up  _twice_ ; one before he and Pidge got together, and the second time being when they got together.

The first time it happened, Pidge had started freshmen year of high school while Hunk and Lance were in their sophomore year. Pidge and Hunk had slept over at Lance’s house for a weekend with a holiday on Monday so they could spend more time together. It was Sunday morning when Lance and Hunk woke up first, Pidge still sleeping, curled up in her sleeping bag on the floor. Lance decided to crawl right over and poke her cheek, taunting her and calling her  _Pidgey_.

“And he’s chanting the nickname –  _Pidgey. Pidgey. Pidgey_. While poking at her cheek and shoulders,” Hunk explains, making hand movements and changing his voice to try to mimic Lance. “I told him:  _Stop taunting her, Lance_! I told him over and over again and does he listen? Nope! Not at all!”

“I’m guessing he gets what is coming to him after all that?”

“You bet!” Hunk says. “Pidge wakes up and smacks him right in the face! Now, you haven’t known Lance for long, but he is  _really protective_ of his face. So when Pidge smacks him, she nearly breaks his nose! And he’s complaining about it, and Pidge goes:  _You deserved it_. And Lance just looks at me like a kicked puppy and know what I told him?  _I told you so_. I  _told him so_ , Keith! He didn’t learn his lesson the first time, so he did it  _again_!”

“Looks like you have a lot of stories about Lance though,” Keith points out, grinning in amusement from the story Hunk’s been telling. “ _Great_ blackmail material. But you don’t seem like the type of guy to hold those stories over his head.”

“Well,  _no_ , because he’s my  _bro_.” Hunk stops mixing the batter, raising his whisk. “Pidge is better at that blackmail stuff. Not me. Also-- chocolate chips or blueberries? Or do you like just normal pancakes?”

“She is. She has shit on me. Which you’ll  _never_  find out unless I cross her,” Keith says, adding that last bit as soon as he sees Hunk’s eyebrows raise, his interest piqued. “Uh-- I don’t really mind? I normally just have normal pancakes.. I never really tried chocolate chip ones?”

“Chocolate chip pancakes it is!” Hunk declares, making Keith chuckle a little. “These are going to be the best pancakes you ever had – I _swear on it_.”

“I’ll take your word for it, big man.”

There’s a wide grin on Keith’s face that makes Hunk’s heart skip a beat. He grabs the chocolate chips, and mixes a substantial amount of chocolate chips in before going to the stove. He makes sure each pancake he makes are perfect circles, and when they’re fully cooked and golden brown, they look so  _fluffy_. Hunk places a few on a plate for Keith, adding just a little bit of butter and drizzles some syrup on top, placing the plate down in front of his roommate. Hunk wasn’t kidding when he said he was going to make the  _best pancakes_ he  _ever_  had – they already look too good to eat! Keith stares down at the pancakes for a split moment, eyes slightly wide. Taking the fork and knife, cutting off a small piece of the pancake, and stuffing the fork in his mouth.

His eyes go wider, and they  _sparkle_. Hunk watches as Keith sits there, with fork in his mouth, completely quiet. There’s a tinge of anxiety eating at him, thinking Keith didn’t care for them, but his mind is telling him ‘ _No. He likes them. He’s just admiring the taste_.’ And Hunk wishes he could believe that, but he can’t know for sure until he hears it from Keith himself. He waits patiently for a response, and it seems like hours have passed when it really has been only seconds. Keith pulls the fork out of his mouth, but says nothing. Instead, he cuts himself a few more pieces of pancake, stuffing his face with the fluffy – and yet gooey with melted chocolate morsels – pancake. Actions speak louder than words it seems, because now Hunk lets out a breath of relief.

“It’s like I’m eating a  _cloud_!” Keith suddenly says, cheeks stuffed with pancake so his words are a little difficult to make out but Hunk manages. “A fluffy, gooey, chocolaty  _cloud_. Oh my  _god_ , where have these  _been_ all my life? Where have  _you_ been all my life?!”

That last part makes Hunk freeze, his face feeling warm all of a sudden. Keith’s just talking like this because he was able to eat good food, Hunk’s sure of that fact. He laughs a little, rubbing the back of his neck before turning back towards the stove, where the oil in the pan pops, signaling that it was ready and hot enough for another pancake. Hunk pours some batter into the pan, though this pancake doesn’t come out in a perfect circle. It could be Keith’s words echoing in his head that made the circle turn into a..  _deformed_  circle. At least Keith won’t be eating this one –  _Hunk would_. He watches the pancake carefully, and flips it at the right time, making sure he has the glass plate ready for when it’s done. Behind him, Keith’s halfway through his small stack of pancakes, but he places his fork and knife down for a moment to get up. He goes to the coffee maker, which is on the counter right next to the stove.

“Hunk? Do you want a cup of coffee?” Keith offers, grabbing his bag of coffee grounds from next to the coffee maker, looking over at his roommate. “If you’re dealing with Lance, you’re going to need it today.”

“ _Psh_. Lance isn’t  _that bad_ , Keith!” Hunk defends his best friend, waving his spatula lightly. “He’s actually pretty tame when the three of us are just hanging out. But,  _yeah_ , I would love a cup? If you don’t mind?”

“If I minded, I wouldn’t have asked,” Keith points out, and Hunk swears Keith sounds annoyed with him, but when he looks over, he sees the grin on Keith’s face. He watches as Keith prepares the coffee, turning the coffee maker on and letting it brew. “..Does Pidge have blackmail on you?”

“Mm.. I don’t know. I wouldn’t say  _blackmail_ , because I would never do anything to Pidge to make her resort to that?” Hunk shrugs. “Though she probably has a ton of information about me. Good things, I would think. Though there could be embarrassing things mixed in there.”

“Embarrassing things?”

“Yeah, like – I once burnt down my house when I was seven? I was trying to make a cake for my mom and I wanted it done before she woke up so I thought setting it to something higher would make it bake faster.” Hunk explains. “In my defense, I was  _seven_. Or this one time when I was in middle school and I tried making chocolates for Lance and Pidge but I didn’t know Pidge was allergic to cherries and I didn’t know Lance couldn’t have almonds? So I screwed up  _really bad_  there.”

“You didn’t know for that though,” Keith says, trying to comfort Hunk. “They forgave you in the end, right?”

“Yeah, and now we laugh about it every February,” Hunk says, a small laugh following after his words. “I got better at making chocolates since then, too. Remind me to make you some next time –  _wait_. Are you allergic to anything?”

“Not that I’m aware of?” Keith answers, eyebrow raised. “But if you ended up making something I was allergic too, it’d be an accident, I’m sure. Unless you’re  _looking_  to kill me.”

“What? No! No no!” Hunk flips his second pancake onto his plate, it coming out better than the one shaped like a deformed circle. “Are you sure  _you_ don’t want to kill me? I mean, you  _are_ the one with the knife collection. Have you killed people before? Know what – _no_! _I don’t want to know_! That means I’m an accessory to murder if I knew! I  _can’t_ go to jail, Keith! I won’t do well in jail!”

Hunk’s rambling comes to an end when Keith starts shaking, a hand covering up his mouth. At first, Hunk thinks he said something wrong, or put something in the pancakes he shouldn’t have. But then laughter erupts from Keith, the boy doubling over and holding his stomach, his hand coming off his mouth and holding onto the counter so he doesn’t hit the floor. Hunk is staring with wide eyes, mouth agape, and heat rises to his cheeks, spreading throughout his face to his ears and down his neck. Holy  _crow_  Keith’s laughter was  _cute_! It was loud, but it was  _cute_! And Hunk can’t believe he made this guy  _laugh_. He’s seen him grin, he’s seen him at his  _happiest_ because Hunk fixed Red for him, but  _laughing_?!

His heart skips. He’s screwed. He has a  _cute_ _college_ _roommate_. (And inside Hunk’s head, a little Lance is going “ _I was a cute roommate, too!_ ”)

“Oh.. oh god-- I’m  _sorry_ , Hunk. I  _really am sorry_ ,” Keith’s laughter comes to an end and he wheezes, trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard. “But your rambling –  _relax_ , big man. I never murdered anyone with those knives! And I wouldn’t want to kill you! I wouldn’t kill you even if I was paid to  _assassinate_  you! You’re a good man, Hunk. We need more people like you in this world.”

“We--  _we do_?” Hunk blinks at Keith in confusion, his face still crazy hot. “Thanks? I think? And don’t be sorry! I’m sorry for rambling. I get like that sometimes.”

“It’s  _fine_. Really.”And then Keith sniffs the air, blinking. “..Does something like it’s burning?”

‘ _Like my face_?’ Hunk thinks, but, no, that smell is the scent of a  _burnt pancake_. Hunk freaks out and turns back towards to the pan, shutting off the flame on the stove and moving the pan away from it. He flips the pancake out of the pan onto a different plate, the pancake  _completely black_. “Aw man. That was the last of the pancake batter, too..”

“You can have some of mine?” Keith offers. “You made them in the first place, and I don’t normally eat much anyway. As good as your food is, it fills me up pretty quick.”

“It’s fine. You eat up,” Hunk waves his hand as he starts cleaning up his mess. “You have work today, don’t you? You’re going to need any energy you can get from food. I can always make myself something else. But as you said –  _you_ don’t eat much, and who even knows if you’ll be able to find something you like later? At least the pancakes will keep you full for a few hours at least.”

“I guess you have a point.” Keith blinks, the coffee maker beeping, signaling that coffee was ready. “I’ll be back. I’m going to get my mug from my room.”

Keith leaves before Hunk could respond. Hunk lets out a sigh, turning back towards his mess. The burnt pancake is going to have to cool off a little before he dumps it, and the pan is going to have to cool off too before he washes it. He supposes he can let the other dishes soak for a while, considering he has time to kill  _anyway_ and doesn’t have to rush to clean things up. He moves to the sink, rinsing out the batter bowl before pouring a little bit of dish soap in there and letting the hot water fill it, bubbles rising with the water. Hunk ends up getting lost in his thoughts while the water raises – thoughts filled with  _Keith_ mostly. His roommate seemed like the  _loner_ type of guy, or rather the one that wanted to be  _left alone_. And Hunk respects that, but from the start of the year up until now, it seems like Keith has gotten a bit more comfortable around Hunk. It makes Hunk happy, so he’s not complaining, but he’s starting to notice the little things about Keith that he hasn’t noticed before.

Not only that, but that laughter is echoing through his head and Hunk feels like he’s going to  _die_.

“Whoa, man--” A hand darts out, shutting off the water, and that’s enough to make Hunk break out of his thoughts, turning his head to see Keith next to him. He’s  _really close_ to him, actually. “First a burnt pancake, now you nearly flooded the place. Are you okay?”

“Me? Fine! _Peachy_!” Hunk says, though he  _swears_ his voice cracks a little. “Just-- thinking about a lot of things.”

“Oh.” Keith’s quiet for a moment. “If you want to talk about it sometime, I’m here? I’m not much at conversations, but I’m a good listener, I think..”

“That’s fine. This happens sometimes,” Hunk waves his hand, hoping he doesn’t make Keith worry. Was Keith worried? It sounded like it. “Anyway!  _Coffee_.”

Hunk reaches up into a cabinet and pulls out his mug. It seems simple; a basic white ceramic mug with the words ‘ _Have a Nice Day_ ’ printed on it in big bold letters. Hunk pours his coffee into his mug to about halfway, then goes into the fridge to pull out creamer, pouring a decent amount into there and mixing it in. Next comes sugar, and after it’s all mixed in, he takes a sip of his coffee, revealing a black bottom and a hand with the middle fingers sticking up. When Keith sees it, he lets out a small snort. He didn’t expect Hunk to have a mug like that, and he’ll ask about it when he’s had his coffee. He takes the coffee pot and pours coffee into his own mug; also a basic white ceramic mug but the words ‘ _In My Defense I Was Left Unsupervised_ ’ printed on it. Hunk raises an eyebrow at it, curious if there’s a story behind the mug.

Hunk ends up asking about mug stories first.

“So.. is there a story behind your mug?”

“This mug is actually Pidge’s,” Keith explains, taking another sip of coffee. “She knows I have it, she hasn’t asked for it back. But it fits us both? That’s a story for another day though. And Pidge tells it better than me.” He shrugs. “What about you?”

“I’m known as the nice guy, but I can snap at any given moment,” Hunk tells him, and Keith stares at him with wide eyes. “Lance picked this out for me for my birthday because a week  _before_ my birthday, someone said something awful to Lance because he was buying make-up. The conversation was literally ‘ _Oh, buying for your girlfriend? You must have fucked up bad_.’ ‘ _No it’s for me_.’ and the salesperson just gave him the most  _disgusted_ look. And they treated Lance poorly, too. Long story short, this salesperson rings up Lance, tells him to  _have a nice day_. I grinned back at him and told him to  _fuck off_.”

“You  _didn’t_.”

“I  _did_. No one does that to my best friend and lives to get away with it,” Hunk says, then realizes how  _horrible_ that sounded. “I mean-- I don’t  _kill people_ because they hurt my best friend. I just make sure they know they did something wrong? And that they regret it forever.”

“I mean if you want to kill people, I know how to hide a dead body  _so_  I’m with ya.” Keith says and Hunk’s conflicted to look at him with fright in his eyes or ask  _how_ Keith knows how to do it. Keith smirks in amusement when he notices Hunk’s reaction though. “I’m joking. I don’t know how, but I’d assist you and with Pidge’s help, we can get you a clean alibi.”

“Oh my  _god_.”

They finish their coffee and pancakes in silence, and when Keith finishes with his, he offers to clean up after himself but Hunk tells him not to worry about it. And yet, Keith  _insists_ on helping. Something about  _they’re roommates_ , they should share the clean up. Hunk didn’t argue after that. The burnt pancake is tossed, the butter and syrup are put away, and Hunk washes the big mixing bowl. When it’s clean, Keith takes a different rag to dry it, but sets it aside instead of putting it away. He doesn’t know where Hunk likes things,  _plus_ it was just yesterday that Hunk came in on Keith standing on a chair to put something away. Hunk chuckles at the memory, and Keith questions it, but Hunk waves it off as nothing.

The dishes are all washed, dried, and Hunk puts them away while Keith cleans off the counter tops. Once Hunk is done putting away the dishes, he looks at the time.  _It’s only nine_. Nine o’ nine to be exact. It was a little after seven-thirty when Keith had came back and Hunk wanted to make breakfast, and the story telling really made time go by a little faster. And Hunk could have cleaned a little slower if he was by himself, but with two people, it made cleaning go a bit more quicker. But now what was Hunk supposed to do for another three hours? Technically  _two_ , because no doubt Lance would come over after his class had ended at eleven. He guesses he can start on homework. He has something due on Monday, and it’s not good thing to put it off until last minute.

“I think I’m going to take a shower,” Keith says suddenly, and Hunk looks over to see Keith tugging at his tank top. “I took one this morning, but I think I need another because of my workout session today. Thanks for breakfast, Hunk.”

“No problem! It’s better than you eating nothing, or a sweet roll instead,” Hunk says, a grin on his face. Keith smiles back at him and leaves the kitchen. As soon as Hunk thinks he’s in the clear, he lets out a deep breath. “ _God_. I have an amazing roommate.”

It’s something Lance won’t believe, because he bad mouths Keith, but nothing to  _seriously_ hurt him. Keith doesn’t get hurt by Lance’s words, instead he just fights back. Pidge finds it amusing, and Hunk thinks she’ll back him up if Hunk says good things about Keith. After all, Pidge and Keith were good friends like Hunk is with Lance.

The next hour goes by slowly. Hunk ends up doing a little clean up around the dorm, and when Keith gets out of the shower, Hunk decides to clean the bathroom up a little bit. Keith didn’t make a mess of it, and it doesn’t  _need_ to be cleaned, but Hunk needs something to do. Keith had gotten out of the shower at twenty-five after nine, and now it’s ten-thirty. Hunk decides to go to his room and work on his engineering homework. It’s pretty simple considering the notes he took, but he gets stuck on a few parts that makes the homework take longer than it needs to. He hasn’t even looked at the time since he started this homework, and his phone buzzes on his desk. Looking over, he reads the recipient.

_Lance_. Hunk unlocks his phone, noticing the time is fifteen minutes after eleven. No  _wonder_ why Lance messaged him. Hunk leans back in his desk chair, a hand running down his face before reading Lance’s message. Something along the lines of how class was boring and he felt like he was going to fall asleep. He’s going to get coffee on campus though and was asking Hunk if he wanted something.

Hunk  _just had_ coffee. Well, not  _just_. It’s been a good couple hours. But he can still go for some coffee.

He messages Lance back, and tells him he’ll go for a coffee run with him. Lance sends a spam of emojis back, most of them happy and the prayer symbol because  _he must be blessed_ that Hunk’s coming with. Hunk fixes up his desk and sticks his phone into his pocket, grabbing his wallet and goes to head out. He stops by Keith’s door though, wondering if he should knock and tell him he’s leaving. It probably would be best.

“Hey, Keith,” Hunk calls out through the door, knuckles tapping on the wood. “I’m going to head out now.”

“Okay!”

Hunk leaves, and heads over to the coffee shop on campus, meeting up with Lance near the long line. No  _wonder_ why Lance sent that prayer emoji.  _Blessed_ that Hunk was coming, sure, but even more blessed because now Lance can talk to someone he knows and keep him from falling asleep in line. When his and Lance’s eyes meet, a grin spreads across Lance’s face and he charges towards Hunk, tackling him with a hug. The tackle doesn’t phase Hunk, and he doesn’t even  _move_ from it. Instead he laughs, and wraps his arms around Lance, picking him up a few inches from the ground and spins with his best friend in his arms.

“Hunk, buddy, am I  _glad_ to see you!” Lance cheers when their  _hugfest_  comes to an end. They walk to the back of the line together, Lance’s arms folded over his chest. “Of course, I’m  _always_ glad to see my best bro.”

“Aw,  _Lance_ ,” Lance always knows how to flatter Hunk, and Hunk feels his smile grow wider and heat go to his cheeks. “ _You’re_ the best.”

“ _Naw_.”

“ _Yeah_.”

“Okay, maybe I am,” Lance agrees. “ _But_ it takes the best to know the best. Which is  _why_ I’m treating my best friend to coffee and sweet rolls.”

“You’re the only sweet roll I need, Lance.” Hunk says, noticing Lance’s face grow a bit red from that comment. A small laugh leaves Hunk from it. “Come  _on_. That wasn’t even  _good_!”

“ _It was_!” Lance squeaks out, covering his face. “That’s not fair, Hunk!”

“Better you than me,” Hunk shrugs. “Was class really that bad?”

“Yes! It felt like it was going on  _forever_ ,” Lance tells him, hands falling from his face and body slouching. “Time went by so  _slowly_. I can’t  _wait_ until Pidge wakes up so we can start hanging out.”

“I know what you mean. Time went by so slowly for me, too. Keith and I ended up sharing stories,” Hunk says, the mention of  _Keith_ making Lance give Hunk a  _look_. “Listen, Lance. Keith isn’t a  _bad guy_. I made him  _laugh_ , Lance. And my chocolate chip pancakes are the first chocolate chip pancakes he ever had! He ate half of them in like..  _five minutes_!”

“That’s how Pidge is with your pancakes, too. It’s not really  _impressive_.”

“Yeah, well.. I still think he’s a good guy.”

Lance shrugs, “If you say so, man.”

The line seems to take forever to move, but eventually Lance and Hunk make it up front. Lance orders the drinks; one for him, one for Hunk, and one for Pidge. Pidge always gets a double espresso, Lance gets a mocha frappuccino, while Hunk gets a basic iced coffee but with light ice and extra cream, extra sugar. Lance ended up getting chocolate croissant, and even though Lance said he was treating Hunk to a sweet roll, Hunk didn’t want one. By the time they got their coffee order, it was nearly noon, so they go back up to the dorms, expecting Pidge to wake up any moment. Lance opens the door to the dorm he shares with Pidge, shutting it gently. You could never be too careful when there’s a sleeping Pidge in the room. And even  _with_ coffee, Pidge would still be angry at the person who woke her up.

Lance and Hunk end up sitting on the sofa sipping their coffee as they watch television, the volume turned down low enough to not bother Pidge any, but high enough for them to hear. They barely get through whatever they turned on when Pidge comes out of her room, dressed in a shirt way too big for her and hair sticking out in numerous places. Glasses in one hand while her other hand rubs the sleep out of her eyes, and when she puts her glasses on, she narrows her eyes at Lance.

“You got coffee?” Pidge questions and Lance nods, before leaning over and picking up the coffee cup on the coffee table, handing it over to Pidge. “Double espresso?”

“You know it, babe,” Lance responds and Pidge groans at the pet name. “What?”

“It’s too early for this shit, Lance.”

“It’s  _half past noon_ , Pidge.”

“Still too damn early,” Pidge repeats, walking over and plopping herself right between Hunk and Lance, reaching over and snatching a piece of Lance’s chocolate croissant. “Morning, Hunk.”

“Good morning to you, too, Pidge,” Hunk greets with a small smile on his face. “Sleep well?”

“Yes, because  _this one_ knew better than to wake me up,” Pidge says, gesturing towards Lance. “Though I  _did_ feel that forehead kiss.”

“It was a kiss goodbye!  _Still_ romantic even though you were sleeping!”

“It’s _gross_.”

“You’re just asking for more kisses, Pidgeon,” Lance says, taking a sip of his coffee. “But I’ll wait until you’re done with your coffee.”

“You better.”

Lance turns up the volume on the television then, the three of them not  _really_ paying attention to what’s playing. They end up talking over the show, trying to figure out what they’re doing today. They originally planned on going to the arcade, since they haven’t gone to an arcade  _in a long time_. Plus it’s fun to hog the crane machine because Lance and Pidge happen to be  _pros_ at it. Although Lance ends up giving stuffed animals away to any young kids he comes across, since Pidge doesn’t really care for stuffed animals. (Except, maybe a stuffed owl Lance got her at a fair the three of them went to. She said she didn’t want it, but took it home anyway because Lance won it  _specially_ for her. She’s still touched by the fact Lance would spend so much money trying to win something for her.)

They could get dinner at the arcade they went to, which seemed like a good game plan. Hunk hums in thought as he continues to sip his iced coffee, a thought coming to his mind. Should he win Keith something at the arcade? Would that be weird? Friends win things for friends all the time, but did Keith even consider him a friend? Or just an overly caring roommate?

“Pidge, do you know what Keith’s favourite animal is?” Hunk asks without thinking, causing Pidge and Lance to look at him with raised eyebrows. “I kind of want to win him something.”

“Hippos and cats,” Pidge responds, but she’s still confused about this sudden interest Hunk has. “ _Why_ do you want to win Keith something?”

“I don’t know! He’s  _nice_! I just want to win him something! Is that so wrong?”

“Is it wrong for you to win something for a friend? No.” Lance says. “But to win something for Keith?  _Yes_. How is he  _nice_ , Hunk. Anyone with a mullet  _can’t_ be nice.  _And_ he has a knife collection.”

“I fixed his motorcycle--”

“ _And_ a motorcycle! This is giving me bad boy biker vibes.” Lance interrupts, setting his coffee down to fold his arms over his chest. “I don’t like this.”

“He offered to pay me back, and I told him no, but he bought us dinner,” Hunk continues on, ignoring Lance’s comment. “And this morning, I made him breakfast and I told him don’t worry about cleaning up but he  _insisted_ on helping me.”

“That’s how Keith is,” Pidge starts to explain. “If someone helps him, he wants to pay them back somehow. He always feels like he’s in someones debt, so he tries to pay people back with little tasks. He also tries to make friends by being nice and helping people out even if they say  _don’t worry about it_. Because if he leaves, it’s going to eat at him for a _long time_.”

“Wow..”

“I say win him something. I don’t care what Lance says on this matter – I’ll  _help you_ win you something for Keith,” Pidge continues. “Keith needs more friends. I don’t know how many texts I get a day from him that say  _does Hunk consider me as a friend_ or  _am I annoying, Pidge_. You’re a total big ball of sunshine and rainbows, Hunk. He needs you as a friend in his life.”

“ _Everyone_ needs a friend like Hunk in their life,” Lance agrees. “Even if I hate to admit Keith deserves that, too.”

“He’s not annoying! He’s really nice! And I like having him as a roommate.” Hunk says, now  _panicking_ because  _oh god_ , Keith thinks he’s  _annoying_. “I thought he liked to be alone, but he seems to be more comfortable around me. And yesterday, after I fixed his bike, I saw the biggest grin on his face because he was able to ride Red again. And he laughed today! It was  _cute_.”

“Who names a motorcycle  _Red_?”

“You named your car  _Baby Blue_ , Lance.”

“Don’t  _judge me_ , Pidge. It sounds nice in Spanish.”

“I still stand by what I said,” Pidge says, leaning back into the couch. “I guess I should probably get ready so Hunk can win something for his  _roommate_.”

“What’s with that teasing tone..” Hunk questions, but sees the smirks on Lance’s and Pidge’s face. “Oh wait a moment--  _no_. No no. I don’t like Keith like that! He’s just a good guy!”

“That’s what you said about  _Shay_ ,” Lance teases. “Remember, the girl in senior year of high school that was your lab partner for the  _whole year_. She had a rock collection she impressed you with? And then the whole summer, you tried to impress her?”

“Shay was a good friend!” Hunk tries to defend himself. “We still talk, too. She moved away to help her brother with a family business. She was  _sweet_  and friendly.”

“ _Complete_  opposite of Keith,” Pidge says. “I mean, he’s nice, but I wouldn’t call him  _sweet_. And he  _does_ like to be alone, so he doesn’t socialize often unless he finds someone he’s comfortable with. Even if I introduced him to someone, he probably wouldn’t make the first move to  _talk_ to that person. He just seems to get along well with you.”

“That’s  _good though_! And I want to make sure he knows that I see him as a  _friend_. Nothing more.” Hunk says. “I mean, I know I told you guys what I look for in a person, but just because I said someone is  _nice_ , doesn’t mean I have a crush on them.”

Though earlier today Hunk  _did_ admire Keith’s appearance, and his heart  _did_ skip a beat when he saw Keith smiling and heard him laugh. But he could admire someones appearance  _without_ liking them romantically, right?  _And_ he could like the way someone smiles or laughs  _without_ having a crush on them, right? Hunk just sees Keith as a  _friend_ ; a good guy, a good roommate, and keeps to himself. He doesn’t bring suspicious people back to the dorms, he doesn’t blast music at 3AM – but he  _does_ have that  _annoying ringtone_  that goes off at 6AM. Granted Lance never did things either when they roomed together last year, but he’s known Lance for  _years_  when Hunk  _just met_  Keith.

He doesn’t have a crush on him. Hunk’s certain of that fact and he’s going to keep telling himself  _and_ his two best friends that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > [Hunk's Shirt ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e3/79/26/e379265ebe92a15182306799656df088--disney-shirt-for-teens-star-wars-shirts-for-disney.jpg)  
> > [Hunk's Mug](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41vosp-qr6L._SL500_AC_SS350_.jpg)  
> > [Keith's Mug](https://img1.etsystatic.com/167/0/8941645/il_340x270.1151472933_t9ae.jpg)


	5. Chapter 4.5 (Extra Chapter)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small extra chapter because the previous chapter was about 6K words. So I decided to write this short scene to go along with chapter four! Hopefully this will hold you guys over until the next chapter update!!

The three of them took Lance’s car when they went to the arcade. Pidge sat in the backseat, laying across the seats and on her phone, trying her best to ignore Lance’s choice of music that blasted through the speakers. Hunk didn’t mind the music Lance played, because all of it had a nice beat, and he enjoyed listening to most of it when he could. Would he listen to it on his own? _Probably_ not. Hunk preferred instrumental over listening to lyrics, because the instrumental versions of certain songs helped him concentrate more. But because of Lance, he knew a few words to the songs Lance played more often, and sometimes would sing along with him.

When they arrived at the arcade, it was _pretty busy_. They had to wait a while before the crane games were free, so Pidge and Lance mostly challenged each other to first shooter games, and the three of them even played a racing game together. Pidge seemed to win the most at arcades, in which Lance claims she’s _cheating_ and hacking the games with her mind. (“Hacking an arcade game is _impossible_ , Lance.” “Maybe for us, but not for _you_.” “True. But you can’t hack a game with your _mind_.”)

It seemed like forever before the crane game was free, and Hunk rushed over as soon as he got the chance. Pidge and Lance followed after, and Pidge pointed out a the head of a hippo plush sticking out. It would take _forever_ to get the plush, and Hunk thinks it would be _impossible_ to get it, but with Pidge’s help, she’s able to get the hippo partially free to make it an easier catch for Hunk. It still took him more money than he was comfortable with spending, but he thinks it’s worth it in the end because he gets the stuffed hippo. It has a lilac coloured shirt on, and it’s _super soft_. Keith was going to _love this_! Or so Hunk hopes he does.

“I could take some of those off your guys’ hands..” Hunk offers, noticing all the stuffed animals that are tucked underneath Pidge’s arms and the ones Lance is holding onto. “What are you two going to _do_ with all of those?”

“Give them to little kids here,” Lance responds with a small shrug. “Or send them to my little cousins. You can _never_ have too many stuffed animals.”

“You should keep the dog one though, Hunk,” Pidge says, trying to gesture to the fluffy tan dog under her arm. “Or take as many as you want. But what are _you_ going to do with them?”

“Like Lance said: _you can never have too many stuffed animals_.”

Lance was right, too. Hunk used to have a _huge_ collection of stuffed animals back at home until he decided to sell or donate most of them. He kept the few that had sentimental value to him, and now they sit on his bed at home, right at his pillows, waiting for him to come home. Having a small stuffed animal on his bed at college would be nice, too, and when he goes back home, he could donate them. But he’d much rather keep them so he could have numerous cuddle buddies at night.

For a good hour, Lance and Pidge had given little kids stuffed animals, with the parents smiling at them and thanking them. They mostly stayed near the crane machine, since that’s where most kids showed up, their parents being dragged along since they were the ones with the money. The disappointed look on the kids’ faces hurt Lance, because he knows the parents would tell them _no more money_ on the crane game. Which, Lance could understand; _the cranes were fixed_. So he and his family thought when he was a kid. That is until he spent his allowance on the crane game every week and got better at it each time.

They had dinner around six, deciding to go to a restaurant instead of eating at the arcade. They could have a better dinner at a restaurant than at the arcade, and plus they can keep the stuffed animals in the backseat of Lance’s car instead of stuffing them into the booth and risking getting food or drinks spilled on them. By eight, they had been done eating and drove back to campus. Lance parked and started gathering the stuffed animals in the car. Thankfully he had some plastic bags in the trunk to make carrying the stuffed animals back to the dorm room a bit easier.

“Are you going to wait up for Keith, Hunk?” Pidge asks, climbing out of the car. “He’s still at work, isn’t he?”

“Ah, I don’t know.. I don’t want to bother him at work, but that would be weird to wait up for him just to give him _this_ ,” Hunk gestures to the hippo in his arms. Would it be wrong of him to bother Keith at work? Probably would be better than waiting up for him. Or just placing the hippo on Keith’s bed with a note. “..Would you guys come with me to the bookstore?”

“I’d like to see that fuck nuggets face to getting this, so, _yes_ ,” Pidge answers. “Lance and I would _love_ to come along.”

“..We would?” Lance questions, glancing down at Pidge. Pidge moves her elbow back, hitting Lance in the stomach. “ _Ow_! I mean, of _course_ we would come with! _Anything_ for you, buddy.”

“ _Aw_ , thanks you guys.”

Lance takes his bags of stuffed animals with them as they walk over to the college instead going straight for the dorms. It’s not hard to find the bookstore, and when they step in, they seem to find Keith with ease. There’s not many people in the bookstore at eight at night, much to their surprise. Mostly people are procrastinating to the last minute, and having to make last minute trips before stores close in order to finish something in time. Keith’s stocking books, a dark purple apron tied around his waist. He has his hair tied into a low ponytail, and Hunk can make out glasses--

Wait. Since _when_ did Keith wear _glasses_?

“Yo, fuck nugget!” Pidge calls out, rather loudly, and the few people in the bookstore look over at the commotion. Keith darts his head over, eyes widening at the nickname. And after Hunk gets a better look at Keith in glasses, he silently thinks: ‘ _Glasses look really nice on him._ ’ Pidge walks over to Keith, a grin spread wide across his face. Hunk and Lance follow after her. “Whatcha up to?”

“ _Stocking_ ,” Keith responds, hoping that name doesn’t stick with the few customers that are in this store. “Why are you guys here?”

“We just came back from the arcade,” Lance answers. “and we decided to come and bug you.”

“I’m _working_.”

“Yes, McMullet, we _know that_ ,” Lance says with a wave of his hand. “This interaction will be short and we’ll get out of your outdated hair.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my hair.” Keith huffs, putting books down and putting his arms over his chest. “How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“Okay, okay. No fighting,” Hunk tries to be the voice of reason, and there _is_ no reason for Lance and Keith to start fighting right now. Especially not where Keith works. “Uhm.. I actually came to give you something, Keith.”

“Wha-- give _me_ something?” Keith looks at Hunk with wide eyes, a confused look on his face. “What did you..”

Hunk holds up the stuffed hippo and Keith goes quiet. Lance and Pidge have grins spread across their faces as they watch carefully. Keith reaches out for the stuffed hippo, taking it in his hands, feeling how soft the fabric is. He pulls it closer, thumbs going over the shirt the hippo is wearing. There’s a wide smile on the hippo’s face, and the eyes may be just all black, but Keith _swears_ they’re shining. (Could be because they’re plastic black eyes, but let this boy enjoy this gift.) He stares at the stuffed animal for a moment, heat rising to his cheeks before he looks back up at Hunk.

“Er, Pidge kind of helped me win it?” Hunk explains, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought about getting you something because, well, I consider us good friends? And friends give other friends gifts so..”

“But I didn’t get you anything?”

“ _Please, Keith_. You’ve done _plenty_ ,” Hunk did _not_ want anything in return for the stuffed hippo. Well, besides Keith’s happiness that is, and he already _got that_. “You’re a great roommate, and a really great friend. I just thought about you, is all, and thought you’d like it.”

“It’s.. it’s _really nice_ , Hunk. Thank you,” Keith holds the stuffed hippo to his chest, a smile on his face. _Fuck_ , his eyes are stinging with tears that are threatening to come out, but he tries to hold back from crying. “I.. I’m going to put him in my bag.”

“Are you going to name him?” Lance says as Keith turns to put the hippo away. Keith turns back, raising an eyebrow. “You said the hippo was a _he_. You named your motorcycle _Red_. You have to name the hippo.”

Keith thinks about it for a moment, looking down at the hippo then back up at the trio, shrugging his shoulders.

“I don’t know. I’ll think about it.” he says. “You guys feel free to look around. We’re closing in an hour, though.”

“Nah, that’s fine. We should probably head back,” Hunk says. “I’ll see you back at the dorms though, Keith.”

“Yeah. Thanks again, Hunk.”

“No problem.” Hunk says with a grin and he turns around to leave, Lance and Pidge following after him. As soon as they were outside the bookstore, Hunk lets out a breath of relief and Lance and Pidge give him a _look_. “Wha.. what’s that look for?”

“ _I just thought about you, is all_ ,” Pidge recites, slapping Hunk on his arm. “That was _smooth_! You asked me what his favourite animal was beforehand so you could get something he would _like_!”

“And you say _you’re just friends_ ,” Lance says, shaking his head. “Sure. Okay. And _pigs can fly_.”

“We _are_ just friends, Lance!” How many times does Hunk have to say this before it gets through his friends’ heads? “And it _wasn’t smooth_. I don’t know the _definition_ of being _smooth_.”

“Yeah, well, with what just happened? That classifies as being _smooth_.” Pidge says, narrowing her eyes. “Bad enough Lance is gross and romantic. Sure, you deserve someone to make you happy, Hunk, but that was _gross_.”

“Oh my _god_ , you guys. I don’t _like him_ like that..”

Just getting a friend a stuffed animal was a friendly gesture. Not something to make someone think he _liked them romantically_. But he’s thinking that what _if_ Keith thought what that hippo was for? No. _No no_. Hunk _said_ that Keith was a great friend and he deserved the stuffed hippo. No need to get worked up over thinking that Keith thought it meant anything more than _friendship_.

And yet Hunk is pretty sure he’s not going to sleep tonight from overthinking about this whole thing. _Dammit._


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith’s been working hard and staying up late to study, so it’s inevitable that he’s going to get sick. He just doesn’t like to admit it. Hunk’s worried, and as happy as Keith feels about someone caring about it, he can’t figure out _why_ someone would care for him so much.
> 
> And all of this makes Lance and Pidge think Hunk has something for Keith, but Hunk says _“We’re just friends! Friends care about each other_!”

“ _I thought about getting you something because we consider us good friends_.”

It’s the words that echoed through Keith’s head throughout the rest of his shift at work. He regretted keeping the stuffed hippo Hunk won him in the backroom until he could clock out and head back to the dorms. Hunk showing up seemed to make the rest of his night go better. Since the start of his shift, his work day had been  _hell_. The store looked like a mess, and he got couples coming in making out against the bookcases. He got the few girls talking loudly, laughing loudly,  _gossiping_ loudly in the bookstore. Not to mention taking selfies in every part of store, which Keith tried to avoid getting in the best he could but he  _had_ to fix up that section when they were taking selfies. Not to mention the kids that came into the store, begging and pleading Keith for a discount on books.

Not that Keith could blame them, and he’d pass out discounts like high schoolers with gum if he could. But he’s lucky enough he gets a ten percent discount on things, and he books and supplies were  _still_ expensive to him.

Yeah. Hunk coming in during his shift made him relax a little. It seemed like the terrible mood he had been in since the start of his shift was to prepare him for Hunk’s sunny personality to come waltzing through that door to make it all right. Him and his bright smile that could make the sun jealous. His shining eyes that could make the shining stars seem full in comparison. His sunny personality that was so warm that it made Keith relax so much he could sleep underneath the sun like a cat.

 _Yeah_. Hunk was a good roommate and friend. Keith wouldn’t switch roommates for the  _world_.

When his shift ends, Keith helps Luxia close down the store before they gather their personal belongings and clock out together. Keith walks to the dorms alone in the dark, the sidewalk being lit up by the lanterns pressed into the grass by plastic stakes. The stuffed hippo is in his bag, making his tote bag look stuffed compared to how flat it was when he left the college dorms. He’s hoping no one questions it, even though he doubts anyone would remember if his bag was empty or stuffed when he left  _anyway_. He enters the dorm building, and goes for the stairs, heading straight up to his room. He takes his keys out of his pocket, the metal clanging together as he searches for the right key and opens the door. Once inside, he closes and locks the door, back resting against the door as he pulls the stuffed hippo out of his bag.

“Oh, you’re back.”

Keith jumps; startled at the sudden voice. He looks up to see Hunk standing by the walkway to the door, hands on his hips and a smile on his face. Keith swears he almost had a heart attack from Hunk being there. Honestly he’s a little surprised Hunk’s not  _asleep_. Was he waiting up for him? Oh god. Keith  _really hopes_ that’s not the case.

“Sorry, did I scare you? I didn’t mean to. Honest.” Hunk says, arms falling from his side and shrugging. “I was just waiting up for you so I can make sure you get food in you.”

“I would have been fine, Hunk.”

“Eating  _microwavable macaroni and cheese_  isn’t  _fine_ , Keith,” Hunk scoffs, shaking his head. “I make better macaroni and cheese than  _Kraft_. Which, speaking of,  _that’s_ what I made. It just has a bunch of different cheeses.”

“You really didn’t have to make me anything, Hunk. And you didn’t have to wait up for me? Aren’t you tired?” Keith’s panicking now.  _Why_ does he have a nice roommate, and what did he do to deserve Hunk? Plus how the  _hell_ does someone react to something like this? Regardless of saying these things, he’s following Hunk to the kitchen anyway, with the stuffed hippo held against his stomach, arms wrapped around it. “I.. uh.. appreciate it though.”

“Don’t mention it. You’re a roommate and a good friend. As friends, it is my duty to make sure you eat properly,” Hunk says, going for a pot and opening a drawer, taking a large plastic spoon out of the drawer. He scoops some macaroni and cheese into a bowl and pops it in the microwave. When it gives a beep, he places it on the counter, sticking a spoon in the bowl. “Come on.  _Eat_.”

Keith lets out a sigh, knowing he won’t get out of this. He sets the stuffed hippo down on a chair, placing his tote bag on there, as well, and steps over to Hunk’s side. He takes the bowl in his hands and turns, back pressed against the counter as he takes a spoonful of macaroni and cheese. His eyes widen at the taste, tasting several cheeses that  _work so well_ with each other. He ends up eating half the bowl before he notices Hunk’s staring at him with a wide grin on his face. Keith feels his face flush in embarrassment.  _Hunk was just watching him eat_. Or, well, that’s not  _bad_  – not as bad as how Keith was sucking up the macaroni and cheese like he was a vacuum. Keith swallows down the mouthful he has before speaking.

“Uh, sorry. You probably don’t want to watch me eat this as if I was a competitive eater,” Keith says, lowering the bowl. “You don’t have to stay up with me, you know..”

“I don’t mind. To both those things. I’m glad someone appreciates my macaroni and cheese that’s not just Lance and Pidge,” Hunk says with a small laugh. “Plus, I  _want_  to stay up with you. You look tired, and I want to make sure you get to bed and not just.. pass out on the couch.”

“It was a tiring work day. And I’d rather talk about it.” Keith’s lips form into a small pout at that last part though, a little offended. “I’m not going to pass out on the couch!”

“Hey, when you’re tired, literally the  _floor_ is comfortable.”

Keith’s about to open his mouth to retort, but Hunk’s right. There were times where he was so tired that he’d just sleep on the floor at his desk. Sometimes in the bath tub until Shiro found him sitting in cold water and woke him up to get him dried off, dressed, and into a proper bed. Though that was six months into he started living with Shiro, where Keith preferred baths over showers because they were more  _relaxing_. Keith never fell asleep in a bath again after that, and by remembering that moment, his face heats up a little with embarrassment. He quickly shakes it off though, finishing with his bowl of macaroni and cheese. He thinks about asking for seconds, but he doesn’t want to ask for too much. He thinks about it for a good half a minute before shoving his bowl over and asking for another bowl.

Hunk  _laughs_  and nods, giving Keith another bowl filled with macaroni and cheese.

Keith goes to bed with a full stomach that night, though he mostly stays up sitting at his desk trying to do schoolwork.  He ends up drawing random doodles in his notebook, just simple little sketches that don’t really mean much. It’s just small flowers and leaves with light shading from his pencil. Letting out a small sigh, Keith pushes himself away from his desk and changes his clothes into sleepwear; a simple pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Jumping on his bed, he covers up with his blanket and end sup falling right to sleep.

When he wakes up, he wakes up to his alarm again as well as a pounding headache. It’s behind his eyes and when he sniffles, his nose is clogged. Without a doubt it’s a sinus headache and Keith  _groans_. He prays he’s not getting sick, seeing as how he works a noon to eight today and tomorrow he’s supposed to have a study session with Hunk, Pidge, and Lance. He doesn’t even know what  _time_ all four of them are supposed to meet up, but he hopes it’s not early so he could sleep in a little. He’s not really one to sleep one, but considering he thinks he’s getting sick – but hopes he’s not – he could use all the rest he could get if he’s not dealing with school or work. And with college students wanting to show up to class rather than sleep in the dorms to get better, Keith knows there would be more germs going around campus. It would be surprising if half the students didn’t end up sick in the same week.

Keith gathers things up to take a shower, changing into work out gear. The steam from the hot shower clears up his congestion a little, and when he’s out of the shower, he remembers the medical supplies Shiro sent with him. He hasn’t needed to open it  _yet_ , and he manages to find it with ease. There’s pills to relieve sinus congestion and aspirin, so he takes both, hoping they work fast. He has schoolwork to work on after he goes to the GYM on campus. And, again, he works at noon today so he’s  _really hoping_ the medicine works so he doesn’t drag through the afternoon and evening. He takes in a deep breath before heading down to the GYM, hoping his body lets him go through his usual workout with the medicine in him.

After thirty minutes in the GYM, Keith feels hotter than he’s supposed to. He’s even  _sweating_ more than he’s supposed to. He goes to the vending machine, purchasing a bottle of water and chugging half the bottle down before going back to his workout. He doesn’t even last ten minutes before his throat feels scratchy. Frustrated with himself, he decides to leave the GYM. Once back at the dorms, he takes a short, cold shower, hoping that helps him cool off.  _Thankfully_ it does, and he lets out a sigh of relief. He ties his hair up, changing into a tank top and a pair of shorts for the time being. He’ll change into something more acceptable for work later, but for now, he needs his body to cool down. He sits in his room with his desk fan pointed directly at him, leaning back in his chair and letting the cool air hit him. It feels good, and he could sit there  _forever_. Which it’s unfortunate that he can’t, considering he has work in just a few hours. And those few hours go by fast when he decides to just sit there, not touching the homework he tried working on last night.

Well, he  _does_ have tomorrow to do it. At least then he’ll be with the others and they can motivate him. They’d all motivate each other like Hunk said Thursday. Keith snorts at the thought he could properly motivate  _anyone_. He can’t even motivate  _himself_ to do schoolwork. Motivating himself to sketch or photograph was a different story, though.

Before he knows it, it’s time for him to get ready for work. He peels himself off his desk chair with a groan and going over to his clothes, changing out of his shorts and tank top into a pair of pants and a simple t-shirt. He wears an apron over his clothes anyway, and Luxia never specified a dress code, but he might as well make himself look  _presentable_  and not wear a shit with writing on it or the jeans with rips and tears in the legs.

He fixes up his hair, slips a few bottles of water in his tote bag and slips his glasses on. He decides to take the aspirin and sinus congestion pills with him, just in case he needs to take them. (He’ll need to, but he’s still hoping his congestion doesn’t get that bad for him take medicine during work.) After grabbing his phone, he heads out, but as he leaves his room, he bumps into Hunk.

“Uh, sorry, Hunk,” Keith says, stepping back into his room. Hunk stares at him for a long moment, completely quiet. “..Something wrong?”

“Huh? Uh, no. Not really.” Hunk responds quickly. He was looking at  _Keith_ , honestly. Has he always worn glasses and he just hasn’t realized it? Hunk swallows hard, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was just about to make myself heading to eat before heading to class. Do you want something?”

“I don’t really have much of an appetite right now, plus I have to head to work, so I don’t have much time,” Keith says, fixing his tote bag on his shoulder. He’ll probably end up getting hungry later and then he’ll regret those words, but there’s always a vending machine in the lobby, right before the bookstore, actually. “Don’t worry about it. What class do you have?”

“An engineering class. There’s a test coming up, too, so our study session tomorrow with Lance and Pidge is going to help. If you’re still up for that?”

“Of course I am,” Keith answers, a small smile appearing on his lips. Hunk looks skeptical though. “..What?”

“I don’t know, you just.. don’t look so great?” Hunk questions and Keith raises an eyebrow. “Not like that! I mean.. you’re swollen around your nose. And you sound congested. Are you getting sick? We can do the study session some other time so you can rest. I can make you soup when I come back from class and bring it to you at work, too! Should you even be going to work?”

“Hunk.  _Hunk_. I’m  _fine_. Trust me.” It’s a lie, but Keith hopes Hunk believes it. It’s more that Keith would  _be_ fine. A little congestion isn’t going to keep him from studying with the others, nor is it going to stop him from working. “It’s just allergies. I have something to take care of it.”

“If you say so..”

“I’ll see you later. Have fun in class.”

As  _if_ anyone could have fun in class. Then again, Hunk seems to like engineering as much as he likes cooking considering the talk they had Thursday when Hunk was fixing Red. So Keith  _supposes_ that there’s one person out of a thousand that actually  _liked_  going to class. Keith leaves the dorms and heads to work, where he ends up popping another aspirin before clocking into work. Luxia is having him open boxes in the back and sort things, to make it easier to stock. Keith lets out a breath of relief, because he doesn’t think he can deal with people right now without his temper getting the best of him.

~☆~

Hunk’s engineering class seemed to go by quick. You know what they say:  _time goes by fast when you’re having fun_. And for Hunk, he has a  _lot_ of fun in his engineering class. He learns so  _much_ that his notebook is filled with notes that are colour coded as well as numerous post it notes in the notebook, marked with chapters and information to keep it even more organized. He’s a little disappointed that the class ends so quick, but when he leaves, he heads straight for Lance’s and Pidge’s dorm, where they are both awake, but sitting lazily on the couch as they play a fighting game.

Sometimes Hunk’s grateful to have an extra key to their dorm, other times he wishes he would forget about it and  _knock_  so one of the two would get up to answer the door. (Lance would probably be the one answering, because when Pidge is comfortable, she is  _not_ getting up even if there’s a fire. Even then, she wouldn’t think it would worth losing her comfort because of a  _fire_.)

“ _Please_ don’t tell me you two have been sitting like that all day,” Hunk hopes they haven’t, but Pidge and Lance exchange looks for a moment, going quiet. “..You have, haven’t you.”

“You told us not to tell you.” Pidge says with a shrug. “It’s a lazy kind of day, Hunk. Let us have this.”

“Please tell me you’ve at least eaten?” Hunk says, hopeful but the two go quiet again. “Oh my  _god_  you guys.”

“We’ve eaten!” Lance declares, gesturing towards the chip bag and bowl full of dip on the table. “As Pidgey says –  _it’s a lazy kind of day_.”

“You two need to eat  _something_  other than chips and dip.” Hunk sighs, walking over to the couch and grabbing the controller out of Lance’s hand and pausing the game. “Get off the couch and get dressed. We’re going out for lunch.”

“Do we have to go outside? I don’t want to deal with people today.”

“You don’t want to deal with people at  _all_ , Pidge,” Lance says and Pidge shrugs. “I guess Mama Hunk is right. We need food. C’mon, babe.”

“I’m not a mother! I just care about my friends and their well being.” Hunk huffs, folding his arms over his chest. “I’ll buy, too, and  _Pidge_ , peanut butter cookies are not a lunch, they are a  _treat_.”

“Mom read my mind!”

“ _I’m not a mom_!”

Hunk wonders what he did to get friends like Lance and Pidge. Don’t get him wrong, he  _loves_ his best friends. When they got together, Hunk hoped Lance would be able to make sure Pidge ate properly. He and Lance grew up with large families, and learned recipes along the way. Sometimes Lance would cook something homemade, other times it’s  _pop a frozen pizza in the oven_ and call it  _good_. Especially when Pidge is a picky eater, it’s hard to make something she’d actually  _eat_  to fill her up. (But she’d eat a bunch of food if Lance’s or Hunk’s families offered it because she knows how to be polite.)

It doesn’t take long for Pidge to get ready; she throws on a t-shirt of Lance’s a pair of overalls, letting one strap hang off while the other is on her shoulder. She decides to wear a baseball cap for the day since she can’t be bothered with her hair. Lance on the other hand took triple the time it took Pidge, and he comes out wearing a simple shirt and jeans, and also comes holding a hairbrush. He knocks the hat off of Pidge’s head and proceeds to brush the nest that sits atop his girlfriends head. Hunk chuckles as Pidge struggles to get Lance off of her,  _insisting_ her hair is fine, and yet Lance still keeps at it.

“My hair is fine, Lance!” Pidge huffs, but gives up on fighting, arms folding over her chest. “Meanwhile it took you like, fifteen minutes to get ready just for something  _simple_.”

“Hey, I look good, my face is cleansed, and I’m ready to show the world my beauty.” Lance says and Pidge lets out a snort.

“What beauty?”

“ _Pidge_! You’re my  _girlfriend_! You’re supposed to tell me I’m beautiful!”

“Then I’d be telling a lie.”

“Wha-  _Hunk_!”

“You’re beautiful, Lance,” Hunk says with a grin. “Your face reminds me of the sky; clear like your face, a gorgeous shade of blue like your eyes, and smile shining like the sun.”

“Aw, Hunk,” Lance is smiling wide, face flushed. “You flatter me.  _See_ , Pidge.  _That’s_ how you’re supposed to act.”

“Why would I want to act like  _that_? That’s gross. Save that for Keith, Hunk.” Pidge says, waving a hand. “You’ll never catch me saying that shit.”

Hunk’s face flushes at that accusation, “P- _Pidge_! I don’t like Keith in that way! He’s just a good guy and a good roommate. I told you guys that  _yesterday_!”

“Uh-huh. We  _totally_  believe you, buddy.”

Lance finally manages to get Pidge’s hair brushed, and as soon as he sets the hairbrush down, Pidge grumbles, reaching for her hat. She puts it back on, and Lance narrows his eyes at it. He decides to leave it be though and the trio leaves to go get lunch. There’s a nice little sub shop near campus they both like, and Lance drives, with Pidge resting in the backseat on her phone. They order their subs and sit down at a table, with Pidge’s feet propped up on Lance’s lap. He acts like he minds, but he can’t exactly  _force_ Pidge’s feet off his lap when they’re sitting across from each other. They talk about Hunk’s engineering class, and Lance talks about how he’s dreading midterms coming up. Pidge thinks she’ll ace them all, which Hunk and Lance have no doubts that she would.

Somehow they get on the topic of Keith, and Pidge shares a few stories and some information about him. Hunk’s making mental notes, and he sighs with relief to hear Keith’s not a fighter when it comes to taking medicine. If he  _is_ getting sick like Hunk thinks he is, he’d like to help his roommate and best friend the best way he possibly could. Though from what he hears, Keith would chug down a bottle of DayQuil before reading the dosage in order for him to stay up if he has an assignment due or has something important he has to do during the day.

So that means Keith would be stubborn with getting rest.  _Peachy_.

“Why the sudden interest in Keith anyway, Hunk?” Lance questions, eyebrow raised. “And why ask  _Pidge_. You could ask all these things yourself.”

“I just want to know more about him? And I feel like I’d be annoying if I asked him a thousand questions at once.” Hunk shrugs. “Especially if he likes to keep to himself. It’s good to know these things so I don’t anger him in the future.”

“I highly doubt you would. Keith  _may_ have a bit of a temper, but he usually controls it pretty well? For the most part anyway,” Pidge explains. “I’ve known him for a while, and his temper usually came when he’s stressed. Or when I whooped his ass in games.”

“That’s understandable, though. I get angry too when you beat me at game – even first person shooter ones!” Lance says. “You’re not supposed to be good at those! Those are  _my games_!”

“Tough shit. Also, Hunk, you’re right to come to me for this information. Keith usually doesn’t talk about himself much. When someone asks him to tell them about himself, he freezes up and may say the same thing about two or three times before he finds something else to say,” Pidge continues, stirring her straw around in her glass, ice clinking against the glass. “It wouldn’t be annoying, but I feel as if Keith would freak out because he doesn’t know what would be the right thing to say. He’s.. a special sort of case. But it’s not my place to talk about his past.”

“Huh..”

He’s learning a lot about Keith, and silently wonders if Keith would  _ever_  talk about his past with Hunk. He knows he and Lance are open to talk about their family and their pasts, Lance especially. Pidge was different; she doesn’t talk about her family much unless she asked, finding the information about them basically boring. Not to mention it puts a downer on her mood to talk about her brother considering he’s halfway across the world studying abroad. His schedule is jam packed, so he rarely has time to talk to Pidge over skype. Pidge’s lucky enough to get a letter from him every month. Although she understands why her brother chose to study abroad, she doesn’t have to like it. Everyone was different.

“And I’m pretty sure you can only get him to say his tragic backstory when you hit level four of his friendship.”

Oh. Well that answers  _that_. What level was he even at now? Was he even  _at_  a level?

“We should get going. There’s actually this dessert shop I want to stop by since we’re down here,” Lance says, pushing out away from the table and stretches, arms over his head. “As much as I love your baking, Hunk, I have a taste for something sweet  _now_.”

“Non-taken. Even  _I_ get impatient when I’m baking.” And he sometimes licks the batter out of the bowl, but he won’t tell anyone that. Though something else crosses Hunk’s mind. “Uh, I’m going to grab one more thing before we go.”

He knows Keith didn’t seem to want a surprise visit at work from Hunk, and he seemed to turn down the soup idea, but the sub shop  _did_ sell good soup. He might as well get a small cup of the chicken noodle soup they have and surprise Keith with that anyway.

~☆~

For Keith, it seemed like his shift dragged on _forever_. On weekends, it was either super slow that watching paint dry was more interesting, or crazy busy that it was difficult to get five minutes to take a breather. There was no in between.

Even if Keith  _was_  organizing things in the back, and later stocking them, his first hour seemed to go by crazy slow. He’d dreading going out on the sales floor to stock, because he’d have to deal with people, but each time he checked the time, he’s lucky five minutes passed since the last time he checked it. Now it’s barely been three and a half hours since he started – and those hours when by  _so slowly –_ and he feels as if he’ll  _never_ get out of work. He’s been going at a slow pace with organizing, just to try to kill time faster, but that doesn’t seem to be working. He lets out a huff, deciding now would be a good time for a break. He still sounds congested, and Luxia wanted to send him home when she saw him, but he  _insisted_ he was fine. (“Just take it easy,” she told him. “If you don’t feel well enough to be here, you’re free to go home whenever you’d like.” Yeah.  _Right_. Even if Keith had a broken arm, he’d still work because he needs money.)

Keith groans as he gets off the stock room, having had been on his knees for a while separating the different designs of stationary they had gotten in. It’s fall, and Halloween is a good month away, give or take a few days. With that, the bookstore is sent fall themed and Halloween themed stationary, thinking more people would buy something more  _decorative_ than  _plain_. Luxia confirms that it has worked in previous years, especially since whoever buys a notebook, gets a pack of pencils half off. The only bad thing about some of this stationary? Some of it has  _glitter_ on it. Fronts covered in brightly coloured leaves, glitter pressed into the design. Some of it has gotten on Keith’s fingers, and without a doubt it’s in his hair and his face.

He takes off his apron, and tells Luxia he’s going on break. He heads outside of the bookstore, going to the vending machine, and using a couple of dollars to buy himself a Powerade. As soon as it comes out of the vending machine, he shakes the juice and opens the bottle, taking one long sip of it. The cold feels good on his throat, and he already feels some of his energy being restored.

“Keith?”

Keith blinks, turning his head to see Hunk, as well as Pidge and Lance. Keith blinks, wondering  _what_ they are doing here again. Coming to see him at work couldn’t be  _that_ interesting, could it? Unless they just needed something from the bookstore and just ended up seeing him while they bought things. Keith thinks it’s the second option, honestly. He’s never had friends, and if he did make a friend or two, it’s because they  _wanted something_ from him. Or they acted as his friends for a while before excluding him from everything, ignoring him, and then started to tease him behind his back.

Yeah. His life wasn’t a fun one, and he’d rather not look back it now but he can’t help but feel anxious. He  _doesn’t_ want this to happen again. He likes Hunk, even though he can’t understand why he cares about him so much. It took him months to figure out why  _Shiro_ wanted to help him, too. He guesses he should be thankful, but he’s lived with people that didn’t care, and as a young boy, he just thought that was the harsh part of life. He just took it as it came and thought it was  _normal_. But that’s a side of him only Shiro and Pidge know of, and he knows neither of them would spill his past to people. Not like he’d be angry if they did.

“What are you guys doing here again?”

“We came to visit! You know, that’s what friends do?” Lance says, a wide grin on his face. “Especially if you’re working in the  _bookstore_. That’s retail, my dude, and it is  _not_ fun.”

“You’re not allowed to say anything, Lance. You got a job at LUSH during the summer and you  _loved_ that job.”

“It’s still retail, and retail sucks, Pidge, no matter if you love or hate your job.”

“ _Anyway_ , yes, we did come to visit you, Keith,” Hunk speaks up, stepping forward, away from the other two. “I wanted to see how you were doing? You were pretty congested when you left.”

“I’m fine. I told you that,” Keith says, folding his arms over his chest, holding the Powerade bottle in his left hand by the cap. “I’ve been working in the back so I haven’t been dealing with people. I’m on break right now, though.”

“Good! You have time to eat some of the soup I got for you!”

“You did.. what now.”

There’s tables outside of the bookstore, near the vending machines, and Hunk walks over to one, Keith following, leaving Lance and Pidge behind. Hunk takes a styrofoam container out of the plastic bag, popping off the plastic lid, and steam rises into the air. Keith can’t really smell it, but the soup looks  _good_ , he’s not going to lie. And considering all he’s had was a granola bar or two, he could really use some actual food right now. Heck, his stomach is growling just from the sight of it. He prays Hunk doesn’t notice, but he does, and Hunk lets out a light laugh while Keith’s cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“Come on. Sit down and eat up,” Hunk tells him and Keith takes in a small breath before doing as told. He’s not going to deny food since Hunk spent money on him and brought this to his work  _just_ for him. Hunk takes a seat right next to Keith, and as soon as he does, he pushes some of Keith’s bangs back to feel his forehead. “You feel a little feverish, Keith. Are you sure you’re going to be okay for our group study session tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Keith says, taking a spoonful of soup. The steam is clearing his congestion and he’s able to taste some of the soup thankfully. When he looks over to the seat next to him, Hunk still has a concerned look on his face. “Hunk, I  _swear_ I’ll be fine. The aspirin I’m taking has a fever reducer in it and I’m taking something for the congestion. It’s just allergies acting up.”

“If you say so, but I’m still worried, alright?”

But  _why_ does Hunk worry so much, Keith wonders, but not aloud. His chest feels warm because he’s  _glad_ someone cares and worries about him, but he still can’t wrap his finger around the concept that someone would go out of their way to make sure he was alright. Keith eats some of the soup in silence, watching the time as he does,  _just_ to make sure he doesn’t get back to work too late. Luxia seems carefree, so he’s sure she wouldn’t mind, but he’d rather get back to work on time.

He’s had to take off his glasses midway through eating because of the steam that came from the soup, but two minutes before he has to head back to work, he takes his glasses and wipes them off on his shirt before slipping them back on. He pops the plastic lid back on the soup, having had finished about half of the soup before he covered it. He’ll probably eat more later. (Keyword  _probably_.)

“I have to head back to work,” Keith explains, knowing Hunk would prefer it if he ate the whole cup of soup, but Keith doesn’t time to do so. He’ll eat more later. Probably. “But.. thanks for bringing this, Hunk. I can pay you back--”

“No! No no. I’m not allowing that.” Hunk interrupts, putting his hands up. “You don’t have to pay me back.  _Please_. I’m just being a good friend here, Keith. You could be getting sick, or it could just be allergies like you said, but I  _still_ want to make sure you eat right so you don’t make yourself worse.”

“If you say so.. Still, thanks.”

And Keith  _smiles_  and Hunk feels his heart stop. Why does Keith look cute when he smiles? That can’t be fair. Especially when he’s wearing glasses, and he has his hair tied up, and glitter on his face – how did he not notice that last thing before?

“I’ll see you later, Hunk,” Keith says, putting the soup back into the bag and gets up from the table. “I’ll be fine for tomorrow.”

“If you’re sure. I’ll see you later, Keith,” Hunk responds with a small grin. It seems like Keith’s smile grows a bit wider and Hunk watches Keith walk back into the bookstore.

Hunk lets out a sigh, relaxing, and within seconds, Pidge and Lance are next to him.

“Was that a  _dreamy sigh_  because you think he’s cute?” Lance comments, raising an eyebrow. “Or a sad sigh because you hate watching him leave, but you love watching him go?”

“ _Lance_ , no! Neither of those two things!” Hunk’s face turns warm, hands covering his face. “A sigh of relief because he seems to be doing better! And he’s still on for the study session tomorrow.”

“Speaking of, when are we doing that?” Pidge says, leaning on Hunk since he’s still sitting. “The earlier the better considering we have a lot of studying to get done. As much as I don’t like waking up before noon, it’d be worth it for the studying we get in.”

“There’s a small cafe near the campus that I’ve been meaning to go to actually,” Hunk mentions. “We can have it there, and they open at like nine? They have a few different locations, but I haven’t had a chance to go to a single one. And plus the one near campus  _just_ opened up this summer? The  _Five Lions_?”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard about that! I’ve been to, like, two of their locations. The whole place is practically rainbow, their aprons are colour coded, and the interior is so  _bright_ and  _colourful_ that it’s a nice, happy place to go to.” Lance says, a wide grin on his face. “I’m game to go there. Leave at nine, then?”

“That’s so  _early_ ,” Pidge complains, slumping because she is  _not_ eager to wake up that early to study. “Better buy me a double shot of espresso while we’re there because that’s the  _only_  way I’ll get up.”

“Sure thing, Pidgeon.”

“I’ll let Keith know when he gets back from work,” Hunk says. “He should be back by eight-thirty tonight, and he’ll get enough rest to be able to get up that early.”

“Can’t you text him?” Pidge offers, though when Hunk looks at her blinking, she realizes-- “Right. You don’t have his number. Give me your phone.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to give out his number like that--”

“Just give me your damn phone, Hunk.”

Reluctantly, Hunk digs his phone out of his pocket, handing it over to Pidge. He still thinks it’s not a good idea to hand out Keith’s phone number to people, even if it  _is_ just Hunk. Pidge types the number in, and she’s about to hand the phone back over when Lance snatches it out of her hands.

“ _I’ll_ text the Mullet,” Lance says, and Hunk’s panicking because  _what the hell is Lance going to say_. “Oh, interesting name to have him as, Pidge.”

“What. What did she put.”

“You’ll find out,” Pidge says with a grin and leans on Lance, trying to see what he’s typing in. He ends up showing her before he sends it and her grin grows wider. It makes Hunk even _more_  nervous. “I like it.”

“What did you--” Lance hands the phone back over and Hunk looks at the contact name and then the text Lance sent. His face glows crimson. “ _Lance_!  _Pidge_!”

He  _so wishes_ there was an ‘undo’ button on text messages.

~☆~

Keith’s still in the stock room, nearly done with organizing merchandise. His phone vibrates in his apron pocket, and takes a quick glance around before taking it out to see what the notification was. It’s from an unknown number, but he opens the message anyway.

> _Hey, Keith! It’s Hunk._  
>  I just wanted to inform you that the study session will be at 9AM tomorrow at the Five Lions near campus.  
>  Don’t worry about money – I can pay for you.   
>  Can’t wait for tomorrow!!

There’s added emojis such as a smiley face and hearts, and there’s even a kissing emoji on there that makes Keith wonder if that was an accidental emote or on purpose. Though the hearts and kissing emoji make his face flush, but he tries not to think anything of it. He quickly saves Hunk’s number and makes a mental note to text him back later on.

And as he’s cleaning up the stock room, he feels himself smiling. He silently admits he can’t wait for tomorrow either, and makes another mental note to fight with Hunk over who was paying.


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What’s this? _Two_ chapter updates in _two days_?! Look at me go.
> 
> The cliche sick fic chapter is here! Keith ends up worse than he was before, and plans are canceled in order for Hunk to take care of him. He feels horrible about doing it, but he realizes how nice of a guy Hunk is.
> 
> Hunk also realizes something himself.

 

> _From:_ _♥_ _The Keith to my Heart_ ♥  
>  _Hey, Hunk. It’s Keith._  
>  _I’m pretty sure Pidge gave you my number, but I don’t mind._  
>  _Tomorrow morning sounds great. But I can’t have you pay for me._  
>  _I’ll fight with you on this, too. But there’s no arguing with me._

“I forgot you guys put this as Keith’s contact name,” Hunk groans when he gets a notification for a text midway through watching a television series with Lance and Pidge. When he reads the text over, he groans again. “He said he wants to pay! He said I can’t argue with him!”

“Then let him,” Pidge says with a shrug. “That’s Keith for you. You seemed to have done a lot for him already, Hunk. He wants to repay you back somehow.”

“But it’s not necessary! Ugh.” Hunk hangs his head, running his hand through his hair. “I guess I’ll have to deal with it.”

“Take advantage of it. Buy something expensive.” Lance grins, but that grin quickly fades when Pidge pinches his thigh. “ _Ow_! Okay, never mind. Bad idea.”

“That’s what I thought, Lance.” Pidge says, moving her hand away. She glances at Hunk, who is still staring at his phone, and she leans, whispering to Lance. “Though I’m pretty sure we’re going to be dealing with two lovebirds tomorrow.”

“Most likely. Let’s arrange to have them share a milkshake.”

“I’m in.”

~☆~

 

> _From: Hunk  
>  Okay, fine. Since I can’t fight you, I guess I have no choice.  
>  But I won’t go crazy! I promise!_

It’s not until eight that Keith checks his phone again, having had put it on silent when he went to stock. As soon as it hit eight, though, he clocked out and checked his phone, Hunk’s message being the only message he received for the rest of the day. He snorts at the message, letting out a sigh and shaking his head. He pockets his phone as he heads to the dorms, and when he gets up to his room, he’s ready to open the door when he hears laughter coming from across the hall. He glances over, and of  _course_ it’s Pidge’s and Lance’s room. He pauses for a moment, listening to their laughter, wondering if him tagging along with them all the time was a good idea considering how  _great friends_ the three of them were. Sure, he knew Pidge pretty well, but he  _just_ met Hunk and Lance.

At least he seems to get along with Hunk better than Lance.

Keith lets out a breath, shaking his head. He shouldn’t think negatively honestly, but sometimes he just can’t help it. He knows it’s a terrible habit, but with what he’s been through from childhood up until now, he can’t seem to believe someone  _wants_ to be friends with him or  _hang out with him_  without having malicious intentions behind it. He’s heard that Hunk wouldn’t do wrong, and Keith wants to believe it. His mind is telling him that Hunk  _is_ a good guy, but part of him is screaming to not get too attached because he might hurt him later on.

Keith lets out a huff, irritated from the thoughts he has. Shaking his head, he takes his glasses off and finally enters the dorm room, shutting the door behind him. The lights are all off, and considering he’s heard Hunk’s laughter mixed with Lance’s and Pidge’s just a few moments ago, he shouldn’t have expected Hunk to be there. He makes way for his bedroom, dropping his bag on the floor and undoing his hair from it’s ponytail, setting both the elastic and his glasses on the desk. He flops onto his bed without kicking off his shoes, laying on the mattress face down for a while before he turns on his side. He feels tired from work, and his head is  _still_ hurting. Maybe a shower would help him. Especially since the fever reducers in the aspirin he took were making him sweat horribly, and added with glitter, he’ll be uncomfortable if he sleeps like this.

His shower takes longer than normal. He lets the water hit him as he stands there, running his fingers through his wet hair before washing it. His body feels sore from stocking already, but it’s nothing he can’t handle. He takes in a deep breath, being able to breathe out through his nose. He’s sure it’s just allergies that’s making him feel like absolute  _shit_ , and he’ll be better by tomorrow, he’s  _sure of it_. He doesn’t want to worry Hunk as much as he has already. He feels bad for making him worry, especially since when Keith has been sick before, he pushed himself through it. Sure, it took him longer to feel better, but he had no other choice. And when he moved in with Shiro? For  _months_  he felt terrible if he asked for something, and medicine was on that list.

But after he ended up getting a horrible sore throat where he couldn’t talk, Shiro scolded him and Keith apologized for letting it getting so bad. Shiro wasn’t  _that_ angry with him, just super concerned.

Keith sighs, towel drying his hair and changing into sleepwear. As soon as he hits the bed, he’s out like a light.

~☆~

 _He’s not doing any better when he wakes up_.

Granted, he wakes up covered in sweat, to the point where his sheets are drenched. He gets out of bed, body sore and groggy. He changes his clothes, pulls the sheets off his bed, and sleeps without them. He doesn’t check the time, but he knows it’s  _way too early_ to get up. The next time he wakes up, it’s too his alarm, but his body is still too tired to move, so he just lets Shiro’s horrible singing fill the room. It’s more like a lullaby to him at that moment, and he’s able to fall right back to sleep even  _after_  it jerks him awake the next couple of times.

The fourth time it goes off, Keith jerks awake again and groans, rolling over on his stomach. A few seconds later, he hears his door open, but Keith tries to ignore it. His alarm is shut off and then he feels a hand go through his sweat drenched hair. He moves his head to the side, eyes barely open with vision blurred, but he could make out the outline of a person.

“Keith?” the voice isn’t clear, and Keith tries to squint to get some of his vision back. It only makes his head hurt more. “Hey, buddy, it’s Hunk. Your roommate? You slept through your alarm four times, dude.”

“Mm.. I know.”

“You’re also  _covered_ in  _sweat_. Your fever seems higher than yesterday,” Hunk continues on. Keith gives a hum as a response. “Come on. Let me help you out of bed and get you into clean clothes. We have to bring that fever down too.”

Keith doesn’t fight Hunk when he helps him out of bed, being carried to the bathroom and set down there. Keith hears running water and suddenly a cold rag on his face makes him sigh with relief. He’s felt so hot since early that morning, and it seemed to have gotten worse as minutes passed. The cold rag seems to wake him up a bit, and Hunk tugs at his sweat drenched shirt, telling him to lift his arms up. Keith narrows his eyes, swatting Hunk’s hands away lightly.

“I can do it myself.” he mumbles and Hunk pulls back, but Keith could feel his gaze. Keith tries to tug the shirt off himself, but the sweat made the shirt stick to his skin. Okay, maybe he  _does_ need help. “..H’nk.”

“I got you, buddy. I got you,” comes Hunk’s calming voice, hands already tugging Keith’s shirt off his body. “I know you’re still tired, and you’re fever could make you weaker, but you need to change your pants, too. I’ll respect your privacy so you can do that. I’m just going to be right outside the door.”

“Mmkay.” is all Keith says and he tilts his head up to watch Hunk leave. The bathroom door is shut quietly and Keith takes in a deep breath. He tries to breathe out through is nose but finds it congested still. He probably should have taken Luxia’s advice and took the day off, but he needed the money. Or he  _probably_  should have taken something stronger for his symptoms to help him get better quicker. Thank  _god_  it was Sunday. Wait. “Sunday. Oh  _shit_.”

Today they were supposed to have a study session. He was supposed to go to the cafe with Hunk, Pidge, and Lance and  _study with them_. And now he had to go get  _sick_. Keith huffs a breath of annoyance, hands running through his hair. He should tell Hunk to go without him. He doesn’t want to ruin plans he had with the other two. But first he needs to change, to show Hunk he could handle being alone at the dorms by himself. All he was going to do was  _rest_  anyway.

He takes his pants off, as well as his boxers, and reaches for the fresh pair of clothes Hunk brought in. After wiping down his legs with the cold rag, Keith slips on the new clothes, getting up from where he sat on the closed toilet seat. He stands in front of the mirror for a moment, lowering his head and splashing cold water on his face. He already feels better already from it, and now if  _only_ he could just keep his head underneath cold water all day.  _Then_ he wouldn’t have to change clothes five times in one day because he sweated through them all.  _That_ would be one long laundry day.

“Keith?” comes a voice from the other side of the door and Keith gets startled by the sudden voice.  _Fuck_ , he forgot Hunk was out there. “Are you okay?”

“As okay I’ll ever be,” Keith responds, straightening up and shutting off the water. The bathroom door opens and Hunk peeks in. “Listen, Hunk--”

“I canceled the study session with Lance and Pidge,” Hunk interrupts and Keith’s go wide. “Thankfully Lance was awake to get the message. They’ll be coming over later to study here with me while you get some rest.”

“Wha.. you didn’t have to do that? You could go out with them.”

“Keith,” Hunk puts his hands on Keith’s shoulders, eyes locked. “I’m your friend, and I can’t leave you here alone with no one watching over you. What if you pass out? Or get worse? I can’t have that happen.”

“But--”

“No buts. Besides, Pidge and Lance will help me out take care of you, too. You’re going to take some medicine, drink some juice, and head straight to bed.” Hunk says, and Keith can read his face:  _He’s not taking no for an answer_. “You’ll sleep in my bed for now though until I can wash your bed set. You only have on set of sheets?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s all I have? I can’t take your bed though. I can sleep without sheets on the bed.”

“You’ll feel a lot better with them, Keith. Trust me.” Hunk’s tone is serious, and Keith knows he can’t fight him on this. So Keith nods, not fighting back. “Good. Now lets get some medicine in you. First lets get you some juice at least.”

Hunk takes Keith to the kitchen and has him sit down, pouring him a class of orange juice and passing it to him. Keith sips at it slowly as he watches Hunk leave the kitchen and leave his eyesight. But within the next few minutes, Hunk comes back, holding a bottle that contains a dark green liquid. Keith’s pretty sure it’s nighttime medicine, and he’d rather fight against it so he  _doesn’t_ have to sleep, but it doesn’t seem like Hunk would listen to his complaints. But he should try before Hunk ends up pouring the medicine and wasting it.

“Congestion and fever.. What else do you have, Keith?”

“Headache. But I don’t have a sore throat or cough. My body aches a little though? Could just be how I was sleeping or from stocking yesterday,” Keith responds with a shrug. Hunk starts opening the bottle but Keith stops him. “Hunk-- wait. That’s nighttime medicine, right?”

“Yes, and I know what you’re going to say. Pidge told me how you are when you’re sick, and you  _need_ to sleep when you’re sick to get better, Keith.” Hunk tells him, voice stern. Keith gulps because  _fuck_ , Hunk’s a little scary when he’s serious. “So you’ll take this without complaint, and maybe when I wake you up for another dose, I’ll give you daytime. Sound good?”

“Okay.”

How did him being stubborn with taking medicine come up in a conversation between Hunk and Pidge? Well, maybe Hunk mentioned how horrible Keith looked before he left for work yesterday.  _That_ would make a lot of sense.

Hunk pours the liquid into the plastic cap, handing the medicine over to Keith. Keith takes in a deep breath before swallowing the whole thing, the taste making him shudder. Medicine was always so  _gross_ to him, and the pills they had for cold and flu were always so  _big_. Like, if someone had a sore throat, why would they swallow down a huge pill? Wouldn’t it just make the sore throat  _worse_? Keith takes another sip of orange juice, trying to get the horrible taste out of his mouth but  _it’s still there_. Hunk washes off the cup and dries it, sticking it back on the cup. He stays standing in the kitchen as he watches Keith finish the orange juice he gave him. He knows he can trust Keith, but he  _just_ wants to make sure.

Because once Lance got sick and walked away for a moment, came back and Lance was pouring a smoothie in the garbage. (“It tasted awful, Hunk!” Lance had said, no matter how many times Hunk told him it would help him feel better.)

Once Keith finishes the juice, Hunk shows Keith to his room, and when Keith steps foot into Hunk’s room he notices how different it seemed in comparison to his own. Hunk had framed pictures, posters, nick-knacks; a bunch of things to make his dorm room more homey. Keith wonders if he should have his room look like this, but he doesn’t have a lot of personal belongings, and even if he did, he’d rather keep them with Shiro than in a dorm room. What if he forgot something and his dorm got changed while he was away on vacation? He can’t risk that.

Keith looks around the room, also noticing the flower printed bed set. He glances over at Hunk, who notices the bed set, a pinkish-red hue appearing on his cheeks and rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“Uh, my mom gave the set to me before I left. I like the flower prints. They seem calming.”

“I’m not judging, believe me,” Keith says, a small smile on his face as he makes way to the bed, sitting on the edge. “I just.. don’t feel right taking your bed.”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m going to make sure your bed is nicely set up for you later,” Hunk waves a hand. “Just focus on resting, alright? I’ll come in and check on you.”

Keith nods and gets into the bed, Hunk covering him with the comforter and leaving the bedroom, leaving the door open in case Keith calls for him. Hunk goes into Keith’s room next, picking up the sweat covered sheets, tearing the pillow cases off Keith’s pillows and grabbing his blanket, and carrying everything down to the dorms laundry room so he could make sure Keith’s bed is nice and fresh for him when he wakes up again. Or rather, when Hunk wakes him up.

He gets a message from Lance saying he and Pidge went out on a date since Pidge was already up and wanted coffee. She got her double espresso like she wanted, and Hunk laughs at the selfie the two took, holding their coffees. And then he gets a notification from Pidge, who sends him a picture of Lance with whipped cream on his nose. Then a picture from Lance again, who sends a picture of Pidge smiling wide and an obvious blush on her cheeks. Hunk can’t help but chuckle at the pictures, realizing that Lance and Pidge can be a cute couple when they wanted to be. They’re still a cute couple when they don’t act cute towards one another, according to Hunk anyway. And Lance’s family. And Pidge’s parents. Pidge likes to deny that she’s not cute, and  _how could they be cute_  when Lance wasn’t cute. (Lance had snorted then, patted Pidge on the head and said ‘I love you, too, Pidgeon’.)

A couple of hours later, Keith’s bed set is washed and Hunk goes to Keith’s bedroom to set up his bed. Once he has the bed made, he goes to his own room to check on Keith. Keith’s still fast asleep, snoring lightly because of his congestion. Hunk walks over slowly, a hand running through Keith’s bangs and palm pressing against his forehead. Keith hums at the contact, and Hunk notices Keith’s fever is already going down somewhat. It’s still pretty high, but not as bad as it was just a couple hours before now. He decides to wet a rag with cold water and puts it on Keith’s forehead, and Keith sighs with relief in his sleep.

Keith was actually pretty.. peaceful looking when he slept even when sick. Most sick people looked uncomfortable, and would toss and turn until they could  _get_  comfortable. But Keith? Keith looked like he was sleeping so easily right now. It could be the nighttime medicine he gave Keith, but either way Hunk’s thankful Keith’s sleeping so soundly.

Hunk’s about to leave when a hand touches his shirt, and when he looks back, Keith’s eyes are partially open.

“Did I wake you?” is the first thing that leaves Hunk’s mouth. Keith hums as a response, but Hunk can’t make out if it was meant to be a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’. “Go back to sleep, Keith.”

“Can you get me somethin’? Keith questions, voice laced with sleep. “My hippo?”

Hippo? The stuffed hippo Hunk won him? Hunk blinks and smiles a little before leaving to go get it, before coming back not even half a minute later. He tucks the hippo underneath Keith’s arms, and Keith holds it close, snuggling against it. His eyes fall shut again, and Hunk goes to leave again but Keith calls out his name. He turns, seeing a smile on Keith’s face as he holds the hippo close. He looks like he’s sound asleep, but..

“Lance said I should name him,” Keith murmurs, eyes still shut. “’m naming him after you.”

“Hunk?”

“Hunk the Hippo,” Keith confirms as he’s slowly nodding off to a peaceful sleep. “He makes me feel warm.. like you.”

It could be the medicine talking, Hunk thinks, that makes Keith feel warm but his heart stops and his breath hitches from hearing that. Keith  _also_ is sick, most likely delirious from the fever and, when tired and sick, people say some  _crazy things_. Hunk’s pretty sure Keith doesn’t mean all that, as much as he wants it to be. Hunk smiles softly at Keith, hearing him softly snore once more and leaves the bedroom, slowly shutting the door but leaving it open a crack.

Keith was cute. He’s a  _very cute_ roommate, and a very nice friend. Hunk’s lucky enough to have him. But he’s  _pretty sure_ he doesn’t have a crush on him.

~☆~

Keith ends up waking up by the sound of laughter.

He blinks up at the ceiling above him, it covered in star stickers that makes him realize he’s still in Hunk’s room. How long has he been sleeping? He slowly sits up in the bed, a rag falling and landing on top of the floral printed comforter. Keith runs fingers through his bangs, pushing them back as he lets a breath. He still feels hot, but a quick patting around the bed sheets makes him relieved he didn’t sweat all over Hunk’s bed. He would have washed the bed set if he did, even while he was sick.

He rubs his eyes, trying to get the sleep out of them and pulls the comforter off of him, legs going over the side of the bed and feet touching the ground. That’s when he hears footsteps approaching.

“Guys! Be quiet for a moment! I’m checking on Keith,” comes a voice, and Keith’s awake enough to recognize it’s Hunk’s. The door opens and Hunk looks surprised to see Keith awake. “You’re awake. Sorry, were we loud?”

Technically speaking, _yes_ , since Keith woke up by loud _laughter_. But he’s not going to say that. He shakes his head.

“No, my body woke me up on its own,” Keith says, a lie but it’s an innocent little lie. He’s bad at lying, but this one couldn’t hurt, right? “It’s fine, Hunk.”

“How do you feel?” is Hunk’s next question as he steps closer to the bed. His hand pushes back Keith’s bangs to feel his forehead and Keith stiffens at the touch. “Your fever seems to be almost gone. It was pretty bad this morning. You ended up sweating all over your sheets and you were pretty weak until we got you changed and cooled you off a little bit.”

Keith remembers it. Keith remembers being carried, remembering Hunk helping him take off his shirt and the cold rag touching his skin. He’s thankful to have a roommate like Keith, because if he had someone else, he’s pretty sure they would have left Keith alone. Because of Hunk, his fever is almost gone and he feels better already. He owes a lot to Hunk, from when he fixed his motorcycle, to winning that stuffed hippo, to even  _now_. He knows Hunk said he didn’t have to pay him back, but Keith feels like he should. Hunk didn’t  _have_ to do all this, but he did. Hunk didn’t  _have to_  stay with him today – he could have went out with Pidge and Lance like he had planned! But instead, he canceled plans and stayed with him.

And for that, Keith’s grateful.  _So very grateful_. He doesn’t deserve someone like Hunk.

“Keith?” At his name being called, Keith looks up at Hunk. “You okay?”

“Yeah.  _Yeah_. As okay as I’ll ever be.” Keith responds, letting out a breath. “Just.. still a little tired.”

“Maybe you should eat something to wake you up. I have some Campbell’s soup in the cabinets out there.” Hunk suggests. “I can make you some and I’ll let you know when it’s ready so you can rest a bit longer if you’d like. That is if you have an appetite?”

“I-I do. But Hunk, you don’t--”

“Don’t tell me I don’t have to, because I will. Campbell’s soup is like.. the medicine food for colds and stuff.” Hunk interrupts him and Keith shuts his mouth. “Just sit tight and I’ll let you know when it’s ready.”

“..O-okay. Uhm, hey, Hunk?”

“Yeah?”

“Uh.. I don’t know how to thank you,” Keith admits, fingers curling into Hunk’s bed sheets. “No one has ever been this nice to me before. I expected you to just leave me here to take care of my fever on my own. But you canceled plans, and stayed with me, and made sure I didn’t overheat in my sleep. And I  _really am_ grateful. I want to repay you for what you’ve done – and don’t tell me I don’t have to, because I  _want_ to repay you for being this nice to me. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll think of something.”

“Keith..” Hunk’s at loss for words for all that Keith’s said, staring at him with wide eyes. His heart beats a little faster, and his chest feels warms. He feels so  _happy_ that Keith didn’t mind him worrying over him today, and that Keith’s so thankful that Hunk stuck around to make sure he was okay. Hunk’s grin is wide and he rubs the back of his neck, cheeks dusted pink. “It’s nothing, really. It’s what friends do. But I know a way you can make it up to me?”

“What’s that?”

“Me, you, the  _Five Lions_  next Sunday,” Hunk suggests. “That is if you don’t get sick again.”

“That sounds great. And don’t worry,” Keith’s smile is wide and bright, it makes Hunk stop breathing for a moment. “I won’t.”

Hunk leaves the room after that to make the soup as promised, shutting the door to his room behind him so Keith can have some privacy. His roommate is cute – too cute to be  _legal_. And he’s had people take advantage of him whenever he was nice, then turn around and be mean to him at school in the past. Hunk never told anyone that someone was treating him badly, but it still ate him up inside. When he met Lance, Lance would fight anyone who did Hunk wrong. There was one time Lance got suspended for picking a fight, and he nearly got chewed out by his mother when Hunk explained what happened. Lance still got suspended for throwing the first punch, but the kids that picked on Hunk got punished for bullying Hunk, too. (In Lance’s words, justice was served and Hunk couldn’t have asked for a better friend.)

And with Keith.. Hunk hasn’t know him for long, but something inside him tells him Keith can be trusted and that he’s a good guy. He doesn’t seem to want to take advantage of Hunk, especially since he said he wants to pay him back for everything he has done. He remembers hearing rumours around the college last year, when Hunk was halfway through being a college freshmen. Rumours that said that  _Keith_ was a scary guy because he was so a _nti-social_ , rode a motorcycle, and would often glare at the teacher in class.

Maybe that glaring was squinting? Since Keith wore glasses?

And just because he preferred being alone, doesn’t mean he’s anti-social? And that doesn’t mean one is  _scary_?

And just because someone rode a motorcycle, doesn’t mean he’s part of some  _gang_?

Hunk would defend Keith with his life, especially since he’s seen sides of him other students haven’t. He’s fun to be around, his laughter is music to his ears, and his smiling can make babies jealous. He doesn’t hang out with many people, unless Hunk or Pidge invites him. In fact, Pidge is the one that told him Keith doesn’t have many friends, but it’s not because he doesn’t  _want them_.

“ _He seems to get along with us great,” Hunk had said when Pidge told him that tidbit of information. “So why..?”_

“ _It’s not my place to say. It’s part of his past and I shouldn’t really repeat what he’s told me until he feels comfortable to share it with you.”_

Hunk can’t help but wonder what life Keith has been like up until now. He knows he can’t get Keith to open up right away, but he can try. He  _wants_ to learn more about Keith, and get closer to him. He wants to--

He.. wants to show Keith how much he loves him.

“Oh. My god.” Hunk’s in the kitchen, frozen in the middle of it when he comes to realize: “Pidge and Lance were right. I.. like  _Keith_.”


	8. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been six months since my last update and honestly, I apologize. Works been a pain in the neck but I'm glad I finally updated! Also, I now know how many chapters I want this fic to be so that's something!!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this update!

“I  _like Keith_ ,” Hunk repeats, what seems to be like the umpteenth time since he came to that realization. “Oh  _no_. No no  _no_!”

He’s panicking. Hunk did  _not_ do well with crushes. There’s a reason why they were called  _crushes_ : because your feelings always seemed to be crushed like grapes in the end. Crushed like grapes when they’re being made into a fine wine. His crushes  _never_ turned out to be anything more than a crush. Back when he was around eleven or twelve, back when everyone in school thought about how dreamy a boy was and how boys thought how pretty girls were. He thought how pretty this one girl was, with long, dark brown hair, who always wore her hair in a French style braid. Her eyes brown yet still sparkled, and Hunk’s eyes sparkled, too whenever their eyes met and whenever he heard her laugh.

Back then, Hunk was one of the smartest kids in his class, and the only time this girl noticed him was when she needed help with schoolwork. At the time, he just thought she liked him back, and with how many times they hung out at his house working on schoolwork, he thought they had something special. So he confesses to her after half a month of them hanging out, and she confesses she feels nothing for him and was just using him to get better grades. (“So my parents don’t take away my cell phone,” she had explained. “And now that my grades are up? I’m going back to ignoring you.”)

It had been the worst thing that had happened to Hunk, his heart broken into a million pieces. He didn’t show up to school for a week because of that, and never wanted to confront the girl again. Nor did he want to experience having another crush ever again.

Although he doesn’t want to experience having a crush, he unfortunately doesn’t get that wish. When he’s a freshmen in high school, he ends up crushing on a junior who is a cheerleader. Hunk goes with his gut and not his heart, and decides not to confront her about his crush. To this day he couldn’t figure out if it was out of fear of getting rejected, or fear of her boyfriend, a star football player who had muscles bigger than Hunk’s head who would most likely crush his body much like his feelings if he found out about Hunk’s crush on his cheerleader girlfriend.

He’s also had a crush on Lance, but that was short lived and he had told Lance about it before back when the feeling had faded away. Lance wondered why Hunk didn’t tell him sooner, and Hunk admitted that he thought his feelings for Lance would ruin their friendship in some sort of way and would rather not risk it. And to this day, they are the very best of friends, but Hunk can’t help but wonder how they would have turned out if he ever confessed to his best friend.

And  _Shay_. Oh sweet  _Shay_. Hunk meets her mid-sophomore year of high school, and when his eyes locked on her, his throat went dry and his heart raced. She was beautiful and smart, and befriended Hunk easily. It could be because she entered midway through sophomore year and needed someone to guide her through classes and be her tour guide through the school, and Hunk knew the school like the back of his hand, so it seemed like a perfect match for him to help her out.

Of course where there was a beautiful girl such as Shay, there was Lance, who teased him and tried to push him in the right direction. Hunk thought him and Shay were just friends, but Lance thought differently. Lance called himself the  _romance expert_ , and knew that Hunk and Shay liked each other so much that they  _belonged_ together. Hunk tried his best to push the crush aside, and make himself think that what he and Shay said was just a simple friendship and nothing more than that.

Er, well, that was hard to push away and he keeps in contact with Shay even now and each time they talk, it seems like his crush blossoms back up at the worst times.

But, enough about his past crushes – back to Keith. He  _can’t_ have a crush on  _Keith_. They’re roommates, and his feelings will just make things awkward between the two of them. Even if he’s not open about his feelings, Hunk just  _knows_ he’s going to make his feelings seem obvious. Keith’s smart, he’ll figure him out in no time at all! And now Hunk’s panicking more, because – well,  _because_! There’s lots of reasons! What if Keith didn’t like guys? Or maybe Keith liked someone else? Or no one else? What if he was aromantic? Which, that would be fine, too. Hunk would accept Keith for who he was, but Hunk’s crush made Keith out himself about his sexuality, Hunk would feel so  _horrible_. What if Keith wasn’t ready to out himself at that time? What if he was nervous about how others would react? And then it would be even more awkward because, even though Hunk would accept Keith for it, what if Keith thought that Hunk hated him because of his sexuality? There’s just so many possibilities--

“Hunk? Buddy?” comes Lance voice from the doorway, snapping Hunk out of his thoughts. “You’ve been here for a long time. Keith came out of the room and started talking to us and said you were making him soup? It shouldn’t take that long, should it?”

“Keith came out of the room? He should be resting--” Hunk ignores everything else. “He’s still sick, and –  _and_ he can infect you guys! I don’t want you guys to end up getting sick, too.”

“Pidge says I’m too stupid to catch colds.”

“Lance, man, you know that’s not true.”

“Oh, I  _know_  it’s not true. I’m really smart, and I know that, believe me. I’m just trying to prove a point.” Lance shrugs, then folds his arms over his chest. “So, tell me. What’s going on in that head of yours?”

“Nothing?” Hunk responds, but that response isn’t good enough for one Lance McClain. His best friend can read him like a book. Knowing Lance won’t leave him alone otherwise, Hunk lets out a sigh of defeat. “Okay.  _Okay_. I may be panicking a little because, well, I realized I have a crush.. on Keith..”

“ _Seriously_?” Lance raises an eyebrow, eyes widening a little. Hunk nods, face flushed, and that reaction is making Lance smirk. “Well look at you admitting it so soon! Now if you  _only_  did that with Shay.”

“Shay was _just a friend_ , Lance!”

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway.. when are you going to tell him?”

“Uh, never?” Hunk turns back to making the soup, opening the can and pouring it into a saucepan. He could just  _feel_ the look Lance was giving him. “Look, Lance. I don’t want to make things awkward between Keith and I, okay? What if he doesn’t swing that way? I’d rather just leave my feelings trapped inside me like I’ve done all my life and I turned out  _fine_.”

Hunk can hear Lance sigh from behind him, “No. No you didn’t. Hunk, buddy, I’m your  _best friend_ and I can tell crushes make you go  _crazy_. Well, crushes do that to you, but you panic and decide that keeping it to yourself is the best thing to do. What happens if Keith actually  _likes you_? You won’t ever know if you don’t confess.”

“And I won’t know he  _doesn’t_ like me if I don’t ever say it.”

“Hunk-”

“This conversation is  _over_ , Lance.”

Lance frowns at his best friend but decides not to push Hunk to confess any longer. He turns and walks out of the kitchen, but not before he stops at the doorway and turns his head over his shoulder, letting a sigh before he continues walking out. He feels for his best friend, honestly. All the times Lance has confessed to a girl or a guy and ended up getting shut down in the past really broke his heart. And all the pick up lines he has used to get giggles and smacks in return made him think that he would never find someone who was right. And then he met Pidge; the girl that is bad ass and cocky. She’s smart and yet she gets flustered over how Lance shows his love. Plus they can joke around a lot, and be comfortable around one another by being themselves when, if he ever did that with someone else, they might look at him weird. He’s pretty thankful he has Pidge in his life honestly. And when he goes back to the couch, Keith had left, leaving the couch to Pidge who laid on it, taking up the seats. That didn’t bother Lance any, as he moved towards there and got comfortable right on top of Pidge, laying on her smaller body and arms wrapped around her, his head on her chest. Needless to say Pidge looks him with a raised eyebrow and flushed cheeks.

“Lance? What are you doing?”

“Nothin’. Just snuggling with my girlfriend.” Lance mutters, shifting to get more comfortable. “I just realized how lucky I am to have you in my life.”

Pidge’s jaw drops, and strangled noises came out of her mouth. She wants to say  _something –_   _anything_! But she can’t find the right words. She wants to say the feeling is mutual, but the last time she said something romantic, Lance never let her go. So, instead, she looks over to the side, and moves her hand to run his fingers through Lance’s short hair, softly petting the top of his head. Lance stiffens at this before he smiles wide, then pushes himself up to instead nuzzle his face into Pidge’s neck. At this, Pidge squeaks.

“Lance! That tickles!”

“Aw, but  _I love you_ , my perfect Pidgeon.” Lance coos, planting a wet kiss on Pidge’s jawline. “And you can’t deny it, because the little head petting you just did makes me know you feel the same way!”

“ _How_ did you get that from  _head petting_?!”

“I just know love when I see it.” And he does, considering the conversation he just had with Hunk.

~☆~

After Hunk snapped out of his thoughts, he went back to making Keith’s soup. It doesn’t take much longer, and he pours it into a bowl and grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge, carrying everything on a tray back into his own room. He walks by the couch, where Lance and Pidge are snuggling. Well, it’s more Lance snuggling Pidge, but they looked cute like that and Pidge had no complaints. He softly smiles at the two of them as he makes away to Keith, down the hall and opening the door with one hand. To his surprise, Keith’s sitting on Hunk’s bed, back up against the wall and head tilted back. He can tell Keith’s eyes are shut, and Hunk wonders if he’s sleeping sitting up – which  _can’t_ be comfortable honestly. But that theory goes right through the window after Hunk shuts the door and the noise makes Keith open his eyes and move his head to make eye contact at Hunk.

Wow. Hunk never realized how pretty Keith’s eyes were until now. His eyes are dark, yet so bright. It’s like a thousand galaxies in Keith’s eyes and they sparkle like the stars. Plus, they were kind of mysterious like space itself, which is fitting for Keith. He’s not exactly  _mysterious_ , per-say, but there’s so many things Hunk didn’t know about Keith and he’s sure Keith is the same way. He means –  _well_ , they started off as roommates and now suddenly they’re acting like the best of friends and Hunk hasn’t even unlocked level seven of Keith’s friendship level. Hunk takes a deep breath after getting mesmerized by Keith’s eyes – god  _damn_ , how did that line go? Eyes so blue, you’re lost at sea? Except for Hunk, he could get lost in space by looking into Keith’s eyes.

“Hunk?” Keith looks a little concerned, his fact soft and looking at Hunk with a confused look. “You okay?”

“I should be asking  _you_ that.” Hunk walks over to the bed, setting the tray onto it, right by Keith. Keith eyes it for a moment before sitting more comfortable, taking the tray and setting it on his lap. “I hear you spent time with Lance and Pidge. How was that?”

“Mm.. I thought I had the energy to deal with those two, but I guess not.” Keith responds with a shrug, opening the bottle of water and practically chugging down half of it. “As soon as I went out there, the loudness caused me to get a headache so I came back to relax to get rid of it.”

“Oh, sorry. I can leave, if you want?”

“No, it’s fine. After you came in, it seems like all my pain went away?”

Hunk feels heat blossom on his cheeks. Is he coming down with a fever now? He must be. He’s been around a sick Keith after all. He must have caught something from him. Hunk laughs nervously, and wonders if him being flustered is obvious. He rubs the back of his neck and watches as Keith sips the soup from the bowl instead of using a spoon. He must have been hungry, and Hunk’s a little glad Keith has enough strength to eat considering how he was before. He smiles softly and decides to pull out his desk chair to sit across the bed.

“So,” Keith finally speaks up again after wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “did I.. say anything weird when my fever was extremely high?”

“Uh? Not really? What really classifies as  _weird_?” Hunk raises an eyebrow, leaning back in the chair as he thought. “You said something cute though. You named your hippo after me. Saying it reminds you of me because it makes you warm?”

Now it’s Keith’s turn to turn red. His face blossoms into red and he goes quiet for a moment. Did he  _seriously say that_? Out  _loud_?! Oh god, he made a complete fool of himself while he was sick. He should have  _never_ had gotten that bad. He swallows, covering his face with a hand, averting his eyes away from Hunk. His embarrassment is  _really obvious_ , but Hunk makes no movements or sounds whatsoever, even when Keith thought this guy would burst out laughing because of it. He takes in a deep breath, to try to calm himself down. He  _really_ can’t believe he said that!

“Uh.. how much do I have to beg you to ask you to forget about that?”

“Not much, or not at all, really? I can forget about it, if you want.” Hunk shrugs. “I won’t tell anyone, though. So it can just be kept between you and me.”

“G..good. Thanks..”

“I’ll leave you alone for now,” Hunk gets up, pushing his desk chair back. “You just eat and relax. I’ll come back to check on you, alright?”

“Yeah.” Keith is silent for a moment as he watches Hunk going to leave but Keith calls out to him, making Hunk freeze at the door. “H-hey, Hunk? I.. really appreciate how much you’re doing for me while I’m sick. I know I said I’d owe you with the  _Five Lions_ , but I just--”

“Keith, relax. I don’t expect anything in return. I just want you to get better, okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

~☆~

Keith spent all Sunday in bed, and when he wakes up Monday morning to his alarm, he  _groans_. He spent all of Sunday in bed, and now his body is sore for  _how much_ he was in bed. He reaches for his phone to shut off his alarm, and moves to get out of bed, taking a moment to realize he’s  _still_ in Hunk’s bed. He’s wondering where Hunk slept last night, and when Keith gets up out of bed and leaves the bedroom, he looks around for Hunk. He finds him on the couch, practically  _falling_ off of it because of how big of a guy Hunk was and how small the couch was. Keith frowns, and he feels guilty for getting sick and taking up Hunk’s bed. He could have moved him! Or slept in his bed! He didn’t have to take the couch.

He still feels awful. He doesn’t want to admit it, because he  _wants_ to go to class. He’s afraid that if he doesn’t go, he’ll miss something important, but he’ll just message his teachers later on through their contact information on his syllabus to ask if he missed something important. He knows messaging Slav would be the hardest, because he seems like the type of guy who would shame you for missing class even when you’re  _dying_. But he’d never know for sure unless he messages him, but he’ll eat something first and get to that.

He glances over at Hunk on his way to the kitchen, wondering if he should wake him up and have him get into his bed, but it’s also  _infected_ with Keith’s germs, so maybe after he eats, he’ll wash Hunk’s bed set first, and  _then_ message his teachers. It can’t be comfortable for Hunk to sleep on the couch, and Keith’s assuming Hunk has classes so he’s going to wake up with back pain later and  _that_ won’t be fun to deal with.

When he gets into the kitchen, he first goes to the fridge, and before he opens the fridge door, he takes notice at the little magnets and the notepad on the freezer door. He never noticed how much Hunk decorated the place, and it’s really different than how Shiro decorated his place. And while Keith prefers not to have little things and his basic essentials, something about how Hunk decorates makes Keith’s chest feels warm and a smile tug at his lips. Another thing he notices is a note on the fridge door; it’s a white piece of paper with a colourful border which, at first glance, is just a pastel rainbow but upon closer inspection, the border is entirely made of macaroons and Keith finds it somehow  _cute_ that Hunk has paper like this. The note is held on by a simple, silver magnet, and on the note, it reads:

> _Keith,_  
>  I had a feeling you’ll wake up to your alarm and go to class, but before you go, please eat what I made you.  
>  There’s a bowl of fruit and some pancakes – just pop the pancakes in the microwave for thirty seconds and they’ll be good!  
>  If you can’t finish everything, don’t worry about it. I just hope you eat something.  
>  -Hunk

Keith has to put a hand to his mouth, as if to muffle the ‘ _oh my god_ ’ that leaves his mouth. He takes the note off the fridge and sticks it in his pocket, the opens the fridge door, seeing the food Hunk left for him. He does as Hunk says on his note and pops his pancakes in the microwave and decides to eat them without any butter or syrup. They tasted  _so good_ , and the fruit Hunk prepared was cut up apples and some grapes, plus some strawberries which had been lightly dusted with sugar. He sees the medicine Hunk left out, and makes sure he reads the bottle so he takes the daytime dose of it, and he washes the food and medicine down with orange juice before making way back to the bedroom –  _Hunk’s_ bedroom.

Keith’s  _really grateful_ for everything Hunk has done for him. He didn’t have to – hell, he didn’t even have to  _talk_ to Keith. And yet, the first day they met, he introduced himself and since then, Hunk had been nice to him and has been his friend.

..They..  _were_  friends right? Keith’s  _pretty sure_ he and Hunk are friends. He feels like he should ask, but he doesn’t know if it would be wrong to ask something like that. Keith decides to keep that thought in the back of his head as he pulls the bed set off of Hunk’s bed and gathers it all to go wash it. The laundry room is down the hall, and he wonders who else is awake at this hour or if anyone else is washing. God, he hopes no one gives him suspicious looks if he’s washing a bed set so early in the morning.

Thankfully, when he gets there, there’s one other person and they pay no mind to Keith and his arms full of sheets. Keith shoves them in the available washing machine, puts some detergent in, and lets the machine do its work. He decides to stay there while it does its job, and after everything is dry, Keith folds everything up and carries it back to the dorm room where he finds the couch empty, the blanket folded and left on the couch, and lights on. Keith blinks, and walks to Hunk’s room, setting the bed set down on the mattress and walking back out. He hears the shower running in the bathroom, so that must be where Hunk is right now.

“Well,  _duh_ , Keith,” Keith says to himself as he goes back to his own room, to his closet so he could change. Maybe he should shower once Hunk was done. “Who  _else_ would be using the shower besides Hunk?”

Keith flops down on his computer chair, breathing a sigh of relief. It feels good to be back in his room, back at his desk. He brings his laptop closer and starts it up, and from there, he opens his e-mail, typing out messages to his teachers. They’re plain and simple, and he apologizes for missing class and promises he’d be there tomorrow because he  _should_ feel a bit more better to get through a full school day. Once his e-mails are sent, he pushes back from his desk, turning in his chair and reaching for his phone, going through his text messages. Shiro has sent him a few messages, asking him how he was, and Keith goes ahead and messages him back even though it’s been  _hours_ since Shiro got a response from him.

“Good to see you’re awake.”

Keith looks up, seeing Hunk in the doorway, dressed in cargo pants and a shirt with a three-fourths sleeve. There’s a towel around his neck, which makes Keith believe Hunk’s hair is still wet, if not a little damp.

“ _And_ you didn’t go to class today,” Hunk also points out, folding his arms over his chest and leaning against the frame of Keith’s bedroom door. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” Keith responds at first, but Hunk looks like he expects more of an answer. “I think my fever is gone? I didn’t wake up feeling like death, so..”

Hunk steps over to feel Keith’s forehead, his hand going underneath Keith’s bangs which makes Keith’s cheeks heat up this time instead of his whole body freezing at the action, “You still feel a little warm, but it’s not as concerning as before. Did you eat?”

“I.. I was told I always had a higher temperature than most people..” Keith says with a shrug. “I ate,  _and_  I took more medicine. I also went ahead and washed your bed set for you.”

“You didn’t have to do that! You’re still sick, after all. Plus, just because I took care of you, doesn’t mean you had to wash my sheets?”

“Well, I wasn’t going to _make you_  wash sheets infected with my sick germs.”

“Okay, point taken.” Hunk says with a laugh, and Keith  _swears_  his heart just skipped a beat. “I’m about to head to class. Did you need anything before I go?”

“No. No, I’m good.”

“I’ll see you later then.”

Hunk leaves Keith’s room to finish getting ready and Keith lets out a breath. He doesn’t know what’s going on with him, honestly. He bets he’s just overly thankful for everything Hunk has done for him but doesn’t know how to come out and  _say it_. He feels as if just thanking him over and over just makes him sound like a broken record. Maybe he should make him something, as a thank you, and give it to him next week when they go to the  _Five Lions_. Which reminds him he  _should_ look up the place, just to have a better idea of what he’s expecting when he goes there with Hunk. He’s pretty sure it’s not a fancy place, considering that’s where they were going to be studying at before Keith went and got sick.

Which.. now he has to make that up to Lance and Pidge as well. Everything was canceled because he got sick and Hunk decided to take care of him. He should probably do something for them, as well, even though he’s sure Pidge will wave it off as nothing because her and Keith have been friends for so long and understand when plans need to be canceled.

He remembers one day, he arrived at Pidge’s house so they could go to the arcade but Pidge was having a day where she didn’t really  _feel_ like going out or have human interactions outside of her family and her closer friends so Keith and her stayed in her room and played games and ate junk food for the day. And one time, Keith felt the same way and Pidge didn’t mind, and even slapped Keith for apologizing so much for it.

But.. Lance? He doesn’t know Lance so well, so he has to make it up to him  _somehow_. He just doesn’t know how yet. Ah, well, he’ll figure it out.

~☆~

It doesn’t take much longer for Keith to get better. He’s a hundred percent better by Wednesday morning, and by then, he has caught up with what everyone else is talking about since Monday. He even takes in an extra shift at the bookstore, where he’s working on the sales floor and stocking some merchandise, and going to ring up students when he’s needed. It goes from busy, to steady, to finally slow when he was an hour left on his shift. He raises his arms over his head, stretching a little, making sure his body is awake enough when he gets back to the dorms so he could do some of his schoolwork. He might need some coffee after this – or actually, he could go for coffee  _now_ , but he could wait another hour for it.

“Yo, Mullet!”

Keith blinks, turning his head to make eye contact with Lance, and Keith raises an eyebrow in confusion, “Are you talking to me?”

“Uh, yeah? No one else would have a haircut like yours,” Lance responds as he steps closer to Keith. “What are you up to tonight?”

“Coffee and schoolwork. Why?”

“Well, you missed our study session because you were sick, and both Pidge and Hunk are busy tonight, so I figured you and I could hang out?” Lance says with a shrug. “I have a boatload of schoolwork to do, too, so we can chill at the coffee shop on campus.”

Again, Keith blinks, and again, that same look of confusion is on his face. Lance wants to hang out with  _him_? Usually the only time Keith hangs out with Lance is if he’s with Pidge, so he doesn’t know how well this  _hang out_ will go since Keith’s not talkative. But.. but Shiro is always telling him to make new friends if he could, or get to know people better, so maybe Keith should take his advice this time around. He thinks about it for a moment longer before nodding.

“Sure, why not.” Keith shrugs as he puts a stack of books on the shelf in front of him. “I get off in an hour, so either hang out here if you want or I’ll meet up with you at the coffee shop.”

“I’ll stick around. I have a few things I need to buy anyway.”

And with that, Lance turns away, on the search for the items he has to buy while Keith gets back to work. A couple of students come up to him asking questions, and he answers them or even shows them where items were. Before he knew it, his hour was up and he gets ready to meet up with Lance. Lance was just checking out when Keith leaves the back room, and after Lance gets items and his wallet put away, he wraps an arm around Keith, making him stiffen at the touch but Lance shows no sign of moving.

They walk like this to the coffee shop on campus, and after they ordered and sit down, Lance is going through his bag to get his schoolwork out, while Keith has his bag on his lap doing the same but he stops to think. Lance.. is Hunk’s best friend, so maybe he could answer some questions that Keith is too nervous to ask Hunk himself. He chews on his lip, and he looks up at Lance, who is still going through his bag but feels Keith’s stare so he looks up.

“What’s up, man?”

“I just..” Keith doesn’t know how to put his question in better words, so he just comes out and says it. “Why is Hunk the way he is?”

Lance raises an eyebrow, looking a little offended at the question, “What do you mean?”

“I mean-- It’s not to sound  _wrong_ , or anything, I appreciate everything he’s done for me, I just..” Keith starts to explain and Lance’s offended look fades. “He’s so nice to me? Is he like this with everyone? Or am I a special case?”

“Oh, I get what you mean,” Lance stops going through his bag and leans back in his chair. “I’ve known Hunk since like.. first grade? He was always shy and nervous around people and I was the one who asked him to be his friend. He’s the ‘treat others how you want to be treated’ type. But who isn’t?”

“R..right.”

“I wouldn’t say you’re a  _special case_?” Lance continues further. “He’s like that with a lot of people. He likes helping others, and he looks out for his friends. That’s just how he is, Keith.”

“Alright..”

Lance leans over the table, elbow the tables surface and his cheek in the palm of his hand, “Something else is bothering you. What is it?”

“I--” Keith pauses for a moment. He doesn’t even know where to  _start_  on  _what’s_ bothering him. His whole past was complete shit, and he never really had a  _friend_  before so he didn’t know if Hunk was just nice to get something out of Keith or truly just wanted to be friends. Keith stares down at the table, his coffee in his hands. “..Nothing. Hunk.. Hunk is really my friend though.. right?”

“Uh, yeah? We all are, dude,” Lance responds with a grin, then that fades into a frown and his eyebrows raise. “Why? Do you  _not_  want to be friends with us?”

“No! No, I do. I just..” Enough with beating around the bush. Keith takes in a deep breath and looks back up at Lance. “I just never really had friends before? I like it, I really do, but more people go and spread rumours about me than to befriend me right away?”

“That’s just how people are. Hunk’s not like that and neither are we.” Though Lance won’t admit he has believed some of the rumours about Keith before, but now he’s gotten a chance to know him a little better, he’d rather defend him now than believe the rumours. “Now, enough of this depressing chit-chat. We have work to do!”

At this, Keith’s lips twitch into a faint smile, “Yeah. We do, don’t we.”

~☆~

It seemed like he and Lance were in that coffee shop for  _hours_. But a few more cups of coffee and two pastries later for each of them, they finally finished the work. Both of them needed help in some subjects, and they took breaks to talk a little more. Keith thought it was nice to know Pidge’s boyfriend a little better, and Lance felt the same way honestly. Keith lets out a breath as he enters his and Hunk’s shared dorm room, smelling something cooking, and even though he drank so much coffee and ate two pastries, his stomach still growls at the scent. He rests a hand on his stomach and goes to his room, plopping his bag down on his desk chair. He takes his shirt off, throwing it into his mesh hamper, and goes through his closet to get a new one.

That’s when Hunk walks in, sees Keith shirtless, and his face immediately goes red.

“Oh-- _sorry_! Sorry, I didn’t know you were changing!” Hunk blurts out, turning his head away.

Keith snorts, “Hunk, it’s fine. We’re both guys.” He reaches for a fresh shirt and slips it on over his head in seconds. “Did you need something?”

“Uh, yeah-- well, no? Not exactly?” Hunk says, turning back once he knows it’s clear to look back at Keith. “I made dinner if you want some? Unless you got something to eat already? You’re back pretty late.”

“Lance wanted to hang out after I finished the shift I took up at the bookstore,” Keith tells him. “We went to a coffee shop, and I drank too much coffee, but I can eat.”

 _Can he_? Can he eat again after all that coffee and the two pastries? Hunk’s food was just  _too good_ for him to pass up, and if it makes Hunk happy to know he’s eating well, Keith will do it. And when Keith looks back at Hunk, he sees that beaming smile and Keith feels his heart skip a beat. Something about Hunk’s smile makes him  _incredibly_  happy, and makes him know he could get through the day, even if something bad happens, because Hunk’s smile makes up for it. He realizes how.. sweet and romantic that sounds, but he’s pretty sure he’s not the only one who has thought that.

..Right? He can’t be the only one who has thought this.

Hunk leads him to the kitchen, where they both sit down to eat, and being in front of the food makes Keith’s stomach growl once again, and Hunk  _laughs_ at it – he fucking  _laughs_  and Keith feels his face heat up from embarrassment. Hunk sets down a plate of food in front of him, which looks like lasagna, with a side of green beans and some mashed potatoes, and everything just looks  _so good_ that Keith digs right in. Even though midway into the meal, his stomach is telling him to stop, and yet, he continues to force it down anyway, because he can’t see himself wasting the food, and if he says he doesn’t want anymore, Hunk might assume he didn’t like it and he  _definitely_ loves Hunk’s cooking.

Shiro wasn’t a great cook, so he and Keith mostly had take out or microwavable dinners or even pizza you just throw into the oven before Keith started cooking simple meals. Though he’s had his fair share of cooking disasters, and he’d rather not risk burning down a dorm by cooking himself which is why his food is normally something you just pop in the microwave.

Once Keith finishes his food, he feels so full that now he’s tired, and he should probably sleep, but it’s not best to sleep after you just eat so he’ll have to do something before his body digests his dinner.

“I can tell you liked it,” Hunk says as he picks up Keith’s plate and eating utensils and moves to the sink. “Did you want dessert? I made dessert, too.”

 _Say no, Keith. You don’t need this._  “..Uh, sure? Just a little bit.” is Keith’s response instead of listening to his brain and he mentally smacks himself. “What did you make?”

“Just some brownies! Nothing special.”

Keith breathes a sigh of relief that it isn’t a cake or a cupcake, and Hunk brings over a brownie that has fudge icing on it. Although Hunk claimed it was  _nothing special_ , the sweetness of the brownie and the icing made Keith feel a little sick after a couple of bites, but he forced himself to eat anyhow because  _he will not_ turn down Hunk’s food. Hunk’s been so nice to Keith, and before Keith could repay him back after all the things he’s done for him, he’ll just force himself to eat everything Hunk makes even if it makes him explode. (Which.. he doesn’t think is possible, and yet, he still has that thought.)

His stomach is hating him by the time he finishes the brownie. It’s asking him why he ate so much – why he didn’t deny any of the food that was given him, and he knows he’ll be suffering from it later but he just  _had to_. He’s going to have to learn how to cook for Hunk at some point so he could return the favor. But, as he thought about it, he will  _never_ be as good of a cook as Hunk. The least he could do is try, and even if he burned pasta before – which, he doesn’t know how it’s possible, but it happened – he  _could_ get better in time. Just.. he’d have to try it when Hunk wasn’t there, so he didn’t know Keith was cooking specifically for him.

“That was great, Hunk,” Keith finally says after he let his food settle a little bit. “Did you need help with putting any of this away?”

“Nah, I think I have it covered!” Hunk tells him, already putting the food into containers. “I’m going to send this over to Lance and Pidge – they probably haven’t eaten properly yet.”

Keith lets out a small chuckle and gives a little smile, “Alright. I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

“Alright!”

Keith takes a bottle of water with him from the fridge before he heads to his room, where he flops on his bed instead, letting out a groan. He hasn’t eaten that good in like – well,  _forever_! He remembers Pidge’s parents spoiled him with meals whenever he went to her house, or Pidge would bring leftovers when she came to see him, but Keith never ate  _this_ much. And when he and Shiro went out or ordered out, Keith normally didn’t eat much to begin with even though Shiro said he could order more if he wanted to. And yet, even with his stomach full, and his body telling him he’s going to regret eating so much, he’s still happy for some reason. And a little tired. Probably from all the food he ate.

At least his schoolwork is done. He supposes letting his body rest for a bit would be a good idea. His eyes drift shut and he starts breathing slowly, chest rising and falling with each breath.

“Keith, I’m heading over--” Hunk starts saying, going through the door of Keith’s bedroom, only to stop midway when he sees Keith sleeping on his bed. He freezes, and there’s a faint smile on Hunk’s lips as he approaches the bed, and fixes Keith so his head is laying on his pillows the blanket is over his body. “Sleep well, Keith.”


	9. Chapter 8

The rest of the week goes by far too quickly, and by Saturday, Keith can’t believe Sunday is  _tomorrow_ and he and Hunk are going to go to the  _Five Lions_ together. He doesn’t know why he’s nervous honestly – Hunk’s just his friend who has been _overly_ sweet to him. He’d made him dinner, he’s helped him with schoolwork, and Friday night, they had movie night with Lance and Pidge where both he and Hunk ended up falling asleep. When they both woke up, they were practically cuddling. They had pulled away with flushed faces and saying ‘ _sorry_ ’ numerous times. Lance and Pidge had teased them for it later, where Keith nudged them both with his knee, and that escalated into a pillow fight.

That’s when Keith realized how warm and cuddly Hunk was, and that was when Hunk realized how  _cute_ Keith’s laugh was. Seriously – it was like music to his ears!

It’s Saturday afternoon, and Keith’s getting ready for work. Hunk’s not in the dorms, and hasn’t been for the whole day. He and Pidge were working on a project together, something with robotics and science, and Keith didn’t ask for more details because he knows when Pidge gets serious with science and stuff, she uses big words Keith doesn’t understand and he hates asking for a simpler explanation of what she means. And yet, sometimes he enjoys listening to her babble on, even though at the end, Pidge asks him: “ _You have no idea what I’m talking about, do you_?” In which Keith would always respond with a ‘nope’ and Pidge would groan and try to explain it better to him.

So.. it’s nice that she has a friend like Hunk that could understand her big science words and thoughts. And it’s  _also_ nice that she managed to get Hunk away from the dorms for a day because  _all day_ , Keith has been practicing on making something for Hunk. Again, his cooking skills are  _no where close_ to Hunk’s, but Keith  _did_ manage to make some sugar cookies, and with his art skills, he had made them into the shape of planets. Although the rings of Uranus didn’t turn out as well as he planned. Nevertheless, he sets them on a plate and leaves them in the kitchen, with the plate wrapped in plastic wrap and a little note left for Hunk when he gets back to the dorms.

With that, he leaves for work, and honestly, even with students running around, making the bookstore a mess, and talking loudly, Keith feels as if that won’t put a downer on his mood because of how excited he was for Sunday.

~☆~

When Keith gets back from work, he finds the cookies halfway gone and Hunk in the kitchen.

“Keith! You’re back earlier than expected,” Hunk says when he notices Keith standing in the doorway. “How was work?”

“Fine,” Keith shrugs then glances at the cookies. “..Did you--”

“If you’re going to ask if I liked them,  _yes_ , I did,” Hunk interrupts and Keith holds back a breath of relief. “Sugar cookies are really nice, man. It’s great to have something basic for a change. Pretty cool these are shaped like planets, too!”

“I’m glad you liked them,” Keith’s lips twitch up into a smile. “Uh.. what time are we leaving tomorrow?”

“We can leave early? Like say.. nine-ish?” Hunk suggests. “We can take my truck, if that’s alright with you.”

“I-- yeah. Yeah, that sounds fine.”

“Great!”

~☆~

He wakes up on Sunday  _way_ too early. He kept thinking of going to the  _Five Lions_ with Hunk, which made his mind flood with scenarios of how well, or how  _awful_ this could go. He didn’t get much sleep, but earlier that week, he had looked up the menu and Keith’s  _definitely_ getting coffee. But first things first: He needs to shower and find something nice to wear. He knows the  _Five Lions_ is basically a cafe, so he doesn’t have to wear anything fancy, but he  _still_ has to look  _somewhat_ decent. He knows this isn’t a date – it  _definitely_ isn’t a date. It’s just a friendly outing between him and Hunk, and Keith plans on paying for everything as a thank you for everything Hunk has done for him. He doesn’t know if Hunk will allow it, but Keith’s not looking to fight about it. (But he’s definitely paying for everything. No matter how much Hunk insists otherwise.)

He takes a quick shower, blow dries and brushes his hair, and then pulls it back into a low ponytail. He’s just in his a pair of black skinny jeans for the time being, walking quick to his room and shutting the door. He doesn’t have a lot of  _nice_ clothing, or ones that  _won’t_ make people look at him funny. He honestly shouldn’t care what people think, and depending how popular the  _Five Lions_ is, no one will take notice to his shirt. Another thing is, is that he doesn’t have a  huge selection of clothes to  _begin with_ , so his wardrobe is basically all black with touches of red that range from different  _shades_ of red. God, he wishes he could contact Allura and Shiro right now for their opinion on his outfit, but they knew  _nothing_ of his plans for today and he’d rather not have them assume this was going to be a date.

He lets out a breath and decides to wear a basic black t-shirt, which is a little snug on his upper body, but it still  _fits him_ and he’s not uncomfortable in it. On top of that, he throws on a red flannel, the sleeves rolled up to his sleeves. He also realizes it’s been  _forever_ since he wore the fingerless gloves Allura got him ages ago when Shiro forced him to hang out with her for a day. They ended up spending the day shopping, because Allura realized the lack of fashion sense Keith had.

He completes his outfit with his combat boots and a basic silver necklace around his neck. His wallet is in his back pocket, a chain hanging from it and attaching to one of his belt loops. He checks his phone, the time reading seven thirty-five. Keith’s been up for at least an hour and a half, at most, and he’s been in his room all this time pondering his outfit for the day.

Which,  _why_ was he worried so much? It’s not like he has to impress Hunk with the way he dresses. This wasn’t a date, and Hunk wasn’t his boyfriend, he’s just his  _friend_ and he doubts he’s going to judge him for his fashion choices.

Keith finally makes way out of his bedroom, into the kitchen where he snatches up one of the sugar cookies he made for Hunk originally and makes himself a quick cup of coffee. When he’s done, he moves to the couch in the living room of the dorm, flops down, and flips through channels. Nothing particularly interesting is on, but somehow he’s drawn to the news, even though he ends up blanking out a few times and not paying any attention to what the news reporters are saying. The weather report flickers onto the screen and it catches Keith’s attention.  _Sunny –_  it’s going to be  _sunny_ for the  _whole day_. And the temperature is up, but not extremely hot. Doesn’t matter when and Hunk would basically be inside most of the time unless Hunk has other plans for them.

Keith takes a sip of his coffee and then he hears a door close and the sound of someone walking down the hall. Keith glances over to see Hunk; dressed and ready to go. And  _god_ , Keith feels himself staring at Hunk’s arms.

Hunk is wearing a short sleeved shirt, coloured a light yellow – almost like a pastel yellow, Keith notes mentally – and a pair of dark brown pants and a simple pair of sneakers. There’s also a bracelet around one wrist and a watch around the other, plus an orange headband tied around his forehead. His arms are out for the whole world to see on this sunny day and Keith feels his face heat up and his throat grow dry. He looks more casual than Keith does, too, and now Keith’s wondering if he should change into something more simpler.

“Did I make you wait long for me?”

 _That_ sentence,  _right there_ , makes Keith believe that this is going to be a date because isn’t that a line people normally use when they see their date waiting for them? Keith struggles for a response at first but he takes in a breath and moves his eyes from Hunk’s arms so he could make eye contact with him.

“N-no,” Keith croaks out, then clears his throat. “Sorry. No, you didn’t. I just couldn’t sleep last night and my body ended up waking me up earlier than I probably should have.”

“What kind of trouble? Like.. thoughts won’t escape you sort of trouble or just can’t get comfortable?” Hunk questions at first and then pauses. “Uh.. if you want to answer anyway? Sometimes talking about what’s bothering you helps?”

Keith knows that all too well. He knows how much Shiro urges him to talk to him when he has thoughts that won’t go away. He smiles at Hunk, “It’s fine, Hunk. It’s just thoughts that wouldn’t go away.”

“If you want to talk about them at all..?”

“Maybe later.”

Or maybe not later, because most of the thoughts he had were mostly about today and about Hunk, too. But he’s sure those thoughts would go away quickly once they get to the  _Five Lions_.

“So,” Hunk finally says, breaking the silence. “are you ready to head out?”

 _As ready as he’d ever be_. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Keith gets up from the couch, sticks his coffee cup in the sink in the kitchen, and from there, he and Hunk leave and head for Hunk’s truck. Now that he thinks about it, this is the first time he’s been inside Hunk’s vehicle. He notices how clean it is, how the rear view mirror has a car air freshener, making the vehicle smell like vanilla and faintly of cinnamon. The dashboard is completely clean – everything about Hunk’s truck is clean and well kept. Keith could tell Hunk takes care of his truck, which is something they have in common except Keith takes amazing care of Red, his motorcycle. (Which he hasn’t rode Red in quite some time. He should do that soon since he feels guilty about not riding her more often.)

Hunk starts the ignition, rolls down the windows, and puts on his seat belt. Keith already clicked his belt in, and now he’s leaning back in his seat. Hunk backs out of the parking spot, and once they pull out of the college parking lot, Hunk turns on the radio. He goes through the stations until he finds something he likes. It’s not the news, and it’s not music Keith’s used to, but it’s  _oldies_. Keith didn’t know what he had expected with Hunk’s music choices, but somehow the oldies fit him.

The drive to the  _Five Lions_  was slow.  Hunk’s a safe driver, drove the speed limit, and rarely – if  _ever_  – got road rage from other drivers. He and Keith talked a little, and when there was a song on they both knew, they’d sing along. Keith’s singing voice is quiet, but when he was with Hunk, he sung a bit more louder than normal and Hunk catches himself looking over and smiling wide. It seemed like Keith was having a good time already, and that’s all that mattered. And if Keith was having a good time, Hunk was too, and that’s evident by the huge smile on his face. When Keith looks over, he mimics that smile and then goes back to looking out the window the rest of the drive there.

~☆~

The  _Five Lions_ is a small building, built with white brick. Attached the building are fabric awnings, with scalloped edges and coloured white. ‘Five Lions’ is above, right on the building, in big, gold letters, sticking out like a sore thumb. There’s big glass windows, a big door, and a tables and chairs on the outside with umbrellas attached. After Hunk parks, the two of them get out of Hunk’s truck and go inside, where Keith freezes in the doorway and stares at the interior of the cafe,  _completely_  dazed by the design.

The walls are painted a light cream colour, with narrow, rainbow stripes going vertically around the cafe. There’s circular tables with tablecloths that have scalloped edges, the booths looking soft and luxurious for such a small, affordable cafe. Reds, greens, blues, yellows, purples, pinks, and oranges – basically,  _every friggin’ colour of the rainbow –_  gives the place life and more colour. Even the chandeliers that hang above the tables have different coloured bulbs to change the atmosphere. It’s absolutely  _breathtaking_ and Keith just wants to take several pictures of the interior and exterior of this place, for future reference when he draws at odd hours of the night. And yet, this is one of the times where he didn’t bring his camera so his phone would have to do.

“Welcome to the  _Five Lions_!” a server says with a bright smile. She wears a white blouse, with a little bit of ruffle and heart shaped buttons coloured a pastel yellow. She wears black pants and a pastel yellow apron, tied securely around her waist. “Just the two of you? Would you like a table or a booth?”

“Just the two of us, yes, and a booth sounds fine!” Hunk tells her quickly before Keith could have a chance to react. Hunk looks at him, though, as if for a second opinion on their seating. “Right? Booth?”

“Huh?” Keith blinks, coming out of his daze and his face flushes lightly when he realizes he’s holding the poor server up. “Uh, yeah. Booth is fine.”

The server smiles brightly and leads them to their booth, where they sit across from each other. They get menus, and Keith takes a moment to look over the cover before opening it up. It’s a rainbow themed menu, with ‘Five Lions’ written in gold in a white cloud. There’s a scalloped border around it, which makes this place seem more  _fancy_ than just  _casual_ , and Keith wonders if he and Hunk under dressed for coming to a place like this. But as Keith lifts his head up from the menu, and takes a quick glance around, he realizes the other customers there are also in casual wear and there’s only one table where customers are wearing suits and ties. Most likely a business meeting, but Keith wasn’t one to get nosy into other peoples business.

When he looks back at the menu, he opens it up, where selected pictures are shown for certain dishes. The pictures are well taken, though he doubts the food will show up exactly like the picture, so he shouldn’t get his hopes up. His eyes skim the menu, but everything sounds so  _good_ , it was hard to decide on what to actually  _choose_. Maybe he should get a recommendation from one of the waitresses or something--

“Keith?”

Keith jumps in his seat and turns, eyes widening when he realizes the person who calls out to him.  _Allura_. Allura is standing  _right there_ , in a white blouse, black pants, and pink apron, with her hair tied back into a bun. Keith didn’t expect to see her here, and now that she’s there,  _working there_ , Keith wouldn’t be able to leave. Heck, even if he  _did_ leave, he’ll be getting messages from Allura later about why he was there and who the guy was he was with. Which, now that he’s thinking about it, she’s going to start asking him twenty questions and then she’s going to tell Shiro-- Oh  _god_.

“Hey, Allura.”

“You should have told me you were coming! I would have made sure I was your server,” Allura says. “Not like my co-workers don’t know what you look like. They recognized you right away so they made sure to tell me to serve you.”

“How--? You know what, I don’t want to know,” Keith says, letting out a sigh. When he looks over at Hunk, he realizes the confused look on his face. “Ah, sorry. Hunk, this is Allura. She’s the partner to my best friend, Shiro. Allura, this is Hunk. My roommate.. and friend.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Hunk,” Allura tells him with a bright smile. “Now! I’ll leave you two to figuring out what you want to eat, while I have our kitchen whip something up special – on the house!”

Keith watches Allura leave, and when she enters the kitchen, he lets out a small groan and rests his head on the table. Hunk chuckles a little at this, making Keith lift his head up slowly. Why did Hunk have a nice laugh? Or rather, why was he realizing this  _now_  when he has heard Hunk laugh before? More importantly, is he laughing at  _him_? Keith feels as if he should mind, but for some reason he doesn’t. Hunk stops his laughter as soon as he realizes Keith’s staring at him, and Keith sees the red dusting over his dark cheeks.

“Er, sorry! I don’t _mean_  to laugh, it’s just--” Hunk rubs the back of his neck, nervous. “Do you not  _like her_?”

“No, Allura’s fine. Her and I get along well,” Keith says, leaning back in the booth. “I just didn’t expect to see her here. And since she’s Shiro’s partner – who is practically like a brother to me – she’s going to use her break to text him about how I’m with a  _cute guy_  and Shiro’s going to end up asking me  _why didn’t you tell me you were on a date_ and I’ll end up telling him that  _it wasn’t a date_ , because it’s _not a date_.”

Hunk understands where Keith is coming from, but right now, he can’t get out of his mind that Keith said he was a  _cute guy_  and there’s a possibility that people are assuming this is a date. Don’t get Hunk wrong, he’d  _love_  to be on a date with Keith right now, but Keith doesn’t want it to be and that’s  _fine_. It could just be two friends hanging out at a cafe – a  _very nice_ cafe, to be specific. Hunk picks up his menu again, eyes skimming through the selections, though his attention keeps going from the menu to Keith, who is also occupied with looking at his own menu. Hunk holds back a sigh as he continues looking, and it’s not too much longer after that, Allura comes back with two drinks on a silver tray, setting them down in front of them. One of them is a tall glass, small lion heads covering the glass and the straw having a paper yellow lion head attached to it, and the other is a shorter glass with whipped cream on top and a lion drawn on top in what  _looks like_ strawberry syrup.

“You looked like an iced tea person, Hunk,” Allura explains, lowering her tray, holding it against her body. “So, I had them prepare you an apple spice iced tea. As for Keith, it’s a cinnamon-vanilla iced latte with whipped cream and strawberry syrup for your design. It’s also made with almond milk so you’re not suffering later.”

“ _Allura_!”

“ _Suffering_? Are you lactose intolerant, Keith?” It wasn’t hard to put two and two together, but Hunk wanted that confirmation anyway. Keith nodded as a response. “I’ll make a mental note of that when I go shopping then. It’d be nice to make things that you could eat, too, without suffering for it.”

“Oh my  _god_ , you don’t have to do that. I have a special medication for it.” Keith mutters, his cheeks bright red. This was  _not_ the conversation he wanted to have. “Don’t worry about it, Hunk.”

“I will worry about it! What if I make something with dairy in it and it poisons you? You’ll be sick in bed,  _again_! And this time it’ll be my fault!”

“What does he mean  _again_? You were sick, Keith?”

“ _Not important_!” Keith huffs, his face now an  _extremely_ bright red. “Look, can we drop this?  _Please_. This isn’t a conversation I’d like to have.”

“Sorry, sorry.”

“New topic, then. So that I’m actually doing my job instead of teasing you,” Allura says with a grin, even though Keith does  _not_ look amused. “Did you two decide what you would like?”

“I would like the  _Five Lions_ crepe special,” Hunk says, looking down at his selection. “It sounds really interesting? I’m excited to find out how they all taste.”

“That seems to be a customer favourite, so you should end up liking it! And for you, Keith?”

“Er.. let me have the strawberry raspberry almond crisp,” Keith lists it off, not entirely sure if he’s going to like it because it sounds  _super sweet_ , but he might as well give it a try. “and a side of cinnamon apples.”

“Excellent selections. I’ll take your menus and I’ll bring out your orders momentarily.”

~☆~

Keith was right about thinking how sweet his order would be – it was  _extremely sweet_. Even the vanilla ice cream on top of it all didn’t really help. He barely got through a quarter of it before he shoved it away, eating his cinnamon apples instead, that were less tart than his main dish. As for Hunk, he ate slow, savouring every flavour of his crepe special. With this special, there were five crepes as the whole  _Five Lions_ crepe special name intended. The first one had a chocolate pancake, with blackberries and currants. Second was spiced apple cranberry, third was blueberries and crème. Fourth had been green tea crepes with matcha ricotta filling and raspberry sauce, and fifth and final was the perfect combination of peaches, oranges, and lemon zest. Although Hunk had taken a forkful of each one first, to test each flavour before diving into them one by one, and savouring every last bite. Keith actually found it quite interesting to watch Hunk’s facial expressions change with each different flavour, but he seemed rather satisfied in the end.

Though of course while Keith’s staring, Hunk could feel his stare, and in the middle of getting through his third crepe, he makes eye contact with Keith. And when they make eye contact, they’re both quiet for a moment before Keith turns his head away, picking up his cup of his second latte Allura had presented him with, sipping slowly at the drink.

“Were you just watching me  _eat_?” Hunk questions, and when he doesn’t get a response out of Keith verbally, the silence is enough. “That can’t be interesting, man. And you barely ate yours.. is it too sweet? You can have some of mine if you want.”

“What? No. It was just interesting to watch your facial expressions change,” Keith admits, although admittedly a little embarrassed he was caught watching Hunk eat. “And yeah, mine is too sweet for me. You can have it, if you want.”

“We can just take it back with us? Also.. you barely ate it, and you only had your cinnamon apples,” Hunk points out, and uses his fork to cut off a piece of the green tea crepe, sticking his hand underneath it as he brings the fork to Keith. “Here. Eat some of this. It’s less sweet, and you might like it.”

Keith’s eyes cross in the middle as he looks at the fork coming to him – was Hunk trying to  _feed him_? That was the most romantic thing ever someone could do on a date –  _not that this was a date_. Though he does lean closer, parting his lips and closing around the fork, sliding back so he could clean the fork of the piece of green tea crepe. Chewing slowly, he realizes how right Hunk was. It wasn’t sweet, or at least, not as sweet as one would think. It actually tasted pretty good. Hunk smiles wide when he watches Keith’s facial expressions change and when Keith swallows, Hunk lowers his fork, cutting another piece of the same crepe.

“Want more?”

“Yeah. Why not.”

And Hunk feeds him again, and without a second thought, Keith allows himself to be fed the whole green tea crepe. Although after he finishes it off, he feels a little guilty from eating some of Hunk’s food, and even finishing off the green tea crepe that was on there. Not to mention Hunk just fed him forkful after forkful, without any complaints from either of them and in a cafe filled with strangers they didn’t know. Allura could have been watching this whole scene, but Keith hopes she had other customers to attend to rather than watching Hunk feed him. Keith leans back in the booth, picking up his drink once more.

“Sorry. I ate all of that.”

“Did you  _hear me_  complain?” Hunk questions, although rhetorical. “As long as you ate, and you enjoyed it, then I don’t mind any, Keith. I wouldn’t have continued feeding you if I minded. I’m just glad you ate something other than your cinnamon apples and having something other than coffee in your stomach. Which, it’s bad to drink that much coffee and not eat anything with it, you know.”

“I eat  _plenty_ ,” Keith retorts, taking a sip of his latte. At that response, Hunk raises an eyebrow, a look of ‘ _really?_ ’ plastered on his face. “ _I do_!”

“Sure, sure. I’ll believe you this time, Keith,” Hunk tells him with a grin as he continues eating his crepes. “Is there somewhere else you wanted to go besides here? Or do you have to get to work as soon as we get back to the dorms?”

Keith glances at his phone to check the time. They left around nine, arrived around nine-fifteen, and now it’s a little after eleven. Keith doesn’t have work until two, but he should get back to change and get ready as soon as he could though. He’d like to go to other places with Hunk, spend some more time with him, but he’d hate to rush to get ready for work when they got back. He hums a little in thought, resting his elbow on the table and his cheek in the palm of his hand.

“I’d like to go other places, but yeah, unfortunately, work gets in the way of that?” Keith tells him, and he can see the look of disappointment on Hunk’s face. “We can hang out more next weekend? If you’d like to, anyway. Although I’m not sure what we would  _do_..”

“I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

“So,” Allura comes over after that, gathering up their empty dishes. “how was it?”

“Very good,” Hunk says with a wide grin. “I wouldn’t mind the recipes for those crepes, if you guys don’t mind sharing.”

“I’ll see if that’s allowed. All of them, or just the green tea one that you fed Keith?”

Keith’s face lights up at this. Oh  _of course_ she saw them. He covers his face with his hands, letting out a sigh, “ _Allura_...”

“You two seemed to be enjoying yourself! It’s not a problem if you two get romantic here,” Allura says. “After all, he  _is_ a cute guy, Keith. Perfect boyfriend material.”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Keith practically shouts, but keeps his tone low since they are in a public place. “Hunk’s my roommate and my best friend. Nothing more.”

“ _Of course_.” Allura laughs a little at that, not believing those words. “Did you two want anything else or just the check?”

“I think I’m good. Keith?”

“Check sounds great,” Keith agrees. “Also a container for the crisp I didn’t finish? It was too sweet for me.”

“No problem. I’ll be right back.”

“I’m still paying,” Keith mentions when Allura is gone once more, already digging his wallet out from his back pocket. “I said that a week ago, and I’m keeping my promise.”

“What? No! No no,  _Keith please no_ ,” Hunk is practically begging him, but Allura’s already back with the check and Keith’s taking money out. “Mine probably cost the most. I’d rather--”

“Keep the change for a tip, Allura,” Keith interrupts Hunk as he hands over the money. “Thank you for the drinks, too. I’ll thank you more if you don’t mention this to Shiro.”

“Are you going to tell him yourself then?”

“Maybe.”

“ _Keith_.” Hunk’s shoulders slump and Allura laughs before bidding the two of them well and leaving their table. “ _Why_.”

“I told you I would,” Keith says while getting up from the booth and stretching. “Is that a problem..?”

“Well,  _no_ , but I bet mine cost the most..” Hunk gathers up the crisp into the container Allura brought with the check, and then gets up from the booth. “I just feel guilty?”

“Don’t worry about it, big man,” Keith brings hand to Hunk’s shoulder, a smile on his face. “Really. I’d rather pay. Should we head back now?”

Hunk blinks and then a small smile appears on his face, “Yeah. Thank you, Keith. Let’s head back.”

~☆~

For the whole drive, Keith and Hunk make small talk which turns into a full conversation about conspiracy theories and aliens and Area 51. Pidge never did mention Hunk was into those things, and once Keith started talking about the subject, he doesn’t know when to stop. But when he catches himself going into a ramble about conspiracies, he ends up getting flustered and apologizes, and is prepared to be shut down right away. Hunk instead laughs and says Keith could go on as much as he’d like – he likes listening to him talk. Keith almost forgot how to speak after that comment, but after a few moments of silence, he continues rambling on, with Hunk chiming in a few times to add more to Keith’s conspiracy talk.

 _Needless_ to say, Keith is smiling wide, with flushed cheeks, and  _undeniably_ happy. Hunk’s a great roommate and best friend – the best friend that can deal with the conspiracy talk and be somewhat interested with certain topics. Even with Area 51, there are very few that believe in it and the fact the government is hiding aliens from everyone, and yet.. Hunk seems to believe that aliens are there.

“I mean, you have never seen an alien, however, the government has neither confirmed nor denied it, and even if they  _did_ deny it, it’s possible they are hiding the truth of us,” was Hunk’s claim, and at his words, Keith’s eyes light up like stars in the night sky. “There’s more stories of people being abducted, and although they describe aliens differently, there could be thousands of different alien species. Heck, there could be ones that look like humans but with elf ears like in  _Legend of Zelda_. Or there could be ones that are bat-cat hybrids or  _something_! The stories of mermaids could actually be aliens living on an ocean planet that none of the government spacecrafts could reach because it’d take  _decades_  to reach to the end of space.”

Hunk brings up so many good points. And Keith loves every single one of them like he loves Hunk.

..Wait. What?

~☆~

“ _Allura told me about your date_.”

“It wasn’t a date, Shiro!”

Keith’s on break, sitting outside the bookstore with a water bottle, currently on the phone with Shiro. He figures since he hasn’t spoken to him in a while outside of text messages, he figured he’d give him a call. Of course, leave it to Allura to tell Shiro anyway, even though he asked her  _not to_. Keith sighs, messing with his hair. He opted out of wearing it in a hair tie, which that was a mistake in its own because now he can’t stop pushing his hair back. Maybe he should invest in some hair clips. Probably. Maybe not. He’ll think about it.

“ _She said the guy was cute and really nice? You two were arguing over who pays?_ ”

“Doesn’t everyone though? Look, I told him I was going to pay when he and his friends and myself went there to study. Then I got sick and--”

“ _You got sick? Keith.._ ”

“Not the point!” Keith huffs, hand pushing his bangs back. “I kept my promise, Shiro. I wasn’t going to let him pay. He’s done so much for me anyway, and the place is inexpensive so it’s not like it was a big deal.”

“ _But you also said this wasn’t a date? Then what were you two doing alone?_ ”

“Hanging out? Ya know, that’s what friends  _do_. People can hang out without it being a date, and just because I’m gay, doesn’t mean every guy I hang out with me is actually a  _date_.”

“ _Right.. right._ ” Keith hears Shiro sigh on the other end of the phone. “ _How does Hunk make you feel, Keith?_ ”

“I’unno. Really happy? My cheeks hurt from smiling, they get hot sometimes when I’m around him, and my heart beats fast?”

“.. _Uhuh. I hate to break it to you, Keith. But you may be in love with this guy and what you did today was going out on a date with him._ ”

“It wasn’t a date!”

“ _First stage is denial. Listen, I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?_ ”

“Alright. Bye, Shiro.” Keith gets off the phone with Shiro and flips through his cell for something to do. Although midway through flipping, his phone vibrates in his hand, and when he reads the caller id, his eyebrows raise in question, but picks up the call. “Hunk?”

“ _Hey, buddy! Sorry if I’m bothering you at work. You didn’t have to pick up if you were busy._ ”

“Nah. I’m on break right now. What’s up?”

“ _Lance, Pidge, and I are making individual pizzas and I was wondering what you would like on yours? ‘cause I’m making you one and_ _I wanted to make sure what you like before I made it?_ ”

“I like meat lovers, normally..” Keith says, leaning on the table he’s sitting at. “But I have a taste for pineapple.”

There’s silence on Hunk’s end at first, but then he hears muffled shouting. Keith blinks and then suddenly the yelling gets  _louder_.

“ _Pineapple ruins the sanctity of the pizza, Mullet_!” Ah, Lance.

“Lance, do you even know what that word  _means_ , or did you get Pidge to help you?”

“ _Totally had my help_.” “ _Hey! No. I know what it means. Thank you much._ ”

“Uhuh. Totally believe you. Also, pineapple on pizza is just as normal as eating dry ramen out of a bag.”

“ _WHAT?! PLEASE DON’T TELL ME YOU DO THAT!_ ”

“Stop shouting. And no, my friend Shiro does it. And he  _also_  happens to like pineapple on pizza.” Shiro just doesn’t care of the meat lovers because he feels sorry for Keith’s arteries.

“ _Leave him be, guys. I like pineapple on pizza, too._ ” “ _HUNK. MY OWN BEST FRIEND--_ ”

“I’m going to hang up if Lance doesn’t stop shouting.”

“ _Sorry, Keith. I have to get to making these pizzas anyway so I’ll see ya after work?_ ”

For some reason, a wide smile goes across Keith’s face, “Yeah. See ya later, Hunk.”

After they hang up, Keith feels his heart throb hard against his chest. He feels so _happy_ , and his cheeks are starting to get sore from smiling so wide, not to mention how flushed he feels. He’s never felt this way before –  _well yeah_ , he’s felt  _happy_ before, it’s just that there’s other things in addition to his happiness that makes it feel so foreign to him. Such as his stomach doing flips, as if he’s going to be sick, but he doesn’t feel nauseous at all nor is his stomach cramping. He’ll pass it off as nothing for now, since he’s felt worse before, and he gets up to get back to work, about to pocket his phone when his phone buzzes once for a new text message. He glances at the recipient:  _Hunk_. Opening the message, Keith feels his breath hitch at the message.

> _From: Hunk_  
>  _Pidge and Lance thought it’d be funny to have a flour fight.  
>  Making pizza dough from scratch was a bad idea._

The picture attached was Pidge and Lance in the background,  _still_ fighting with the flour, but the center of the image is Hunk himself, with his headband tied around his forehead and flour on his cheeks and in his hair. It’s all over his shoulders, and he looks  _so done_ and yet it looks like he’s fighting back a smile at the same time. Keith brings a hand to his mouth, whispering an ‘ _oh my god_ ’. Would it be weird if he saved this image? Would Hunk mind that? It’s not as if he has to tell him, or show him his phone?  _He saves the picture_. And before he heads back to work, he decides to send one of his own, going to take a selfie against the wall near work, though he decides against the selfie at the last minute when his wide smile is so evident and his cheeks are such a bright shade of red.

He’ll just work through this. Work should go by fast and nothing could ruin his happy mood since he’ll be seeing Hunk after this.

~☆~

Keith is done with work after another two hours. He rushes back to the dorms, and when he gets there, he hears loud laughing from the kitchen. He goes to enter the kitchen, so Hunk knows he’s back, but as soon as he gets into the doorway, flattened dough comes down on top of his head. He mutters a  _what the fuck_ , which makes the kitchen go quiet. The dough is over his eyes, and Keith lifts it, trying to get it out of his hair. He vision is back just in time to see Hunk coming towards him, and Keith freezes, his throat suddenly dry and his heart picking up the pace a little.

“Oh god, Keith, I am  _so sorry_ ,” Hunk apologizes right away, carefully lifting the dough from Keith’s hair. “Pidge sometimes doesn’t know her own strength and she tossed her pizza dough in the air and it stuck the ceiling? I couldn’t find the ladder, and Lance suggested he would get on my shoulders to get it but that would have been dangerous--”

“I-it’s fine,” Keith croaks out, and then he notices the stares from Lance and Pidge, whose eyebrows raise. Keith’s cheeks are warm, and he feels as if he can’t breathe, and why does he feels so damn nervous around Hunk? He coughs, clearing his throat. “It’s fine! Really! I know Pidge’s strength, but how the hell did she get the pizza attached to the  _ceiling_? I didn’t think it’d reach that high.”

“Fuck you, Kogane.”

Hunk laughs, which just makes things worse for Keith. He can’t stop staring at the bright smile on Hunk’s face, and the flour that’s still dusting his cheeks, white sticking out like a sore thumb on his dark skin. God, why was he so  _attractive_? He snaps out of his daze when he hears a  _ding_ , and in a few seconds flat, Hunk went from pulling dough out of his hair to the oven with oven mitts over his hands, opening the oven door and taking the pizzas out. The whole kitchen smells  _so good_ , and a  _lot_ better than delivered pizza or even frozen pizza. His stomach is doing flips, and yet it’s growling, too. He watches Hunk use a pizza cutter to cut the pizzas, wiping it off before he uses it on another. Keith walks over, spotting his pizza.

“Okay, just wait until it cools off a little and then--” Hunk starts saying, then turns his head, to see Keith already eating a slice. “ _Keith_! It  _just_ came out of the oven!”

“So?” Keith says, mouth full of pizza crust, cheese, and pineapple. He pulls the slice from his mouth, cheese coming with it. “Pizza’s the best to eat when it just came out of the oven.”

“Ugh, don’t talk with your mouth full, dude.” Lance groans, turning his head away. “But he does have a point, Hunk. That’s when the cheese is the best and the crust is still a little soft.”

“But it’s so  _hot_! You’d burn your mouth!”

Keith  _wants_ to say:  _Oh no. Whatever shall I do. Maybe you should kiss my mouth better._  But that would be weird, and too gay, and just-- yeah, let’s just  _not_ scare Hunk off. Keith’s already scaring himself with these thoughts of his.

“Please. Keith doesn’t burn his mouth. Heck, he can take a bite out of an ice cream bar and it doesn’t phase him.” Pidge goes to her own pizza, picking up a slice and setting it on a paper towel. “It’s like he’s an alien or something.”

“You made that theory before, and I honestly think it’s true considering I don’t know my mother and my dad walked out on me when I was young so one them  _had_ to be an alien,” Keith insists on this theory, and then the kitchen goes quiet and Hunk looks upset.  _Oh no_. “Uh..”

“Dude, that’s so  _sad_..” Hunk actually has tears in his eyes and Keith feels his heart break into tiny pieces. “Do you need a hug? Can I hug you? I’m going to hug you.”

Before Keith can even respond, Hunk’s arms are wrapped around his body and practically lifting him up the floor. Keith could feel Hunk’s arms tighten around his frame, and now Keith feels nervous about being this close because  _oh god_ , what if Hunk can hear how loud his heart is beating, or feels how fast it was going? What if he gets worried because of it? Now Keith knows he’s sweating from being nervous, and when Hunk loosens his grip and sets Keith back down on the floor, Keith’s having trouble making eye contact with him.  _Great_.

“Shoot. Sorry, did I hug you too hard?” Hunk asks when he realizes how dazed out Keith is. “You okay?”

“He’s fine, Hunk. Just really  _fucking gay_ ,” Pidge comments with a snicker and Keith’s face lights up like a stoplight. “Come on, Keith. Pretty obvious you stare at Hunk’s arms.”

“No I don’t!” He denies it at first, and then he ends up glancing at Hunk’s arms for a split second before turning away. “I-- I just--  _shut up, Pidge_.”

Pidge cackles and Keith runs his hand through his hair, fingers playing with the ends of his hair. He tries to get his breathing in check as his eyes dart from the floor to Hunk, where they make eye contact for a moment before they turn away from each other. Lance folds his arms over his chest, raising an eyebrow as he watches the scene unfold. He’ll leave it for now, since they have pizza to eat and he’ll talk to Keith about it later on. Although he can sense the pining, and sometimes it’s bad if it’s one-sided but at least it’s  _mutual pining_ even though neither of them know about it.

“How about we take our pizza’s into the living room, and watch a movie,” Lance suggests finally to break all the awkward silence. “Mullet can choose the movie. Hopefully it’s not as bad as his haircut.”

“ _There’s nothing wrong with my hair_!”

~☆~

After pizza and halfway through the movie, Hunk and Pidge had fallen asleep. Pidge was using Lance’s lap as a pillow, while Hunk ended up falling asleep sitting up. Keith had moved to the floor, and he had attempted to move Hunk a little to get him to lay more comfortably otherwise there would be one hell of a kink in his neck. Though his attempts failed him, and he just sat on the floor next to Lance anyway, where they finished the movie in silence. After the movie, Lance had carried Pidge to the couch, letting her use Hunk as a pillow this time around as he and Keith cleaned up.

Now in the kitchen together, Lance peeks out to make sure his girlfriend and his best friend are still fast asleep. Folding his arms over his chest, Lance leans on the nearest wall in the kitchen.

“You like Hunk.” Lance says, not beating around the bush, which makes Keith drop the pizza cutter into the sink, making a loud noise. Instead of trying to quiet Keith, Lance smirks wide. “You  _do_. I knew it.”

“Of course I like Hunk. He’s a great friend,” Keith says, going back to the dishes from all the pizza. Of course, Lance walks over and tries to make eye contact with Keith, in which Keith looks away. “That’s all it is, Lance.”

“ _Suuure_. I can sense the pining a mile away, Keithers,” Lance points out. “Look, you can trust me and be honest, because I won’t tell Hunk, or you could suffer by yourself.”

“I’ve dealt with worse and suffered for less.”

“..You have one hell of a dark past, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Keith sighs, turning to finally make eye contact with Lance. “ _Yes_ , Lance, I  _do_. And maybe that’s why I don’t want to admit I like Hunk in..  _that way_. I’m gay as fuck for Hunk, but I’m so scared I might scare him off with my past. It’s better off if I just pass it off as nothing, and let it go away on its own. I’m more than comfortable with being friends with him, that way I don’t have to feel obligated to overshare.”

“Dude, that’s not how a relationship  _works_ ,” Lance’s arms fall to his sides, a frown on his face. “There’s things I haven’t told Pidge, and there’s things she hasn’t told me. There’s some things you’d rather keep to yourself for the time being, and that’s  _fine_. And I doubt Hunk would pressure you into telling him more about yourself, or rather, your  _past_. Besides, even if you did? Hunk wouldn’t be scared off. Heck, I think he’d be around you  _more_ , clinging onto you than be scared off?”

“I.. I don’t know, Lance.” Keith shrugs, turning back to the dishes, setting them in the wire dish rack next to the sink. “I know Hunk’s incredibly nice, and he puts up with me here, and he has  _so many_ amazing qualities. I just-- I just think it’d be better if he and I remained friends. I’d rather not make things awkward between us if he doesn’t return my feelings.”

‘ _Oh but he does_.’ Lance wants to tell him. ‘ _He does and he’s smitten for you_ ’ And yet, he bites his lip to keep himself from saying that, because like hell was he going to throw his best friend under the bus like that.

“Well, if you want to change that..” Lance sets his hand on Keith’s shoulder, making Keith look up.”Let me know. ‘cause I can help you confess to him.”

“How can  _you_ help  _me_ confess?” Keith raises an eyebrow. “Pidge told me you practically shouted at her for your confession.”

Lance’s face goes red, “I-- I-- That’s besides the point! I had a plan to confess to her more romantically but sometimes when the time is right, unlike what you had planned, you just blurt it out!”

“Sure.” Keith rolls his eyes, and there’s a small smile on his face. “But.. thanks anyway.”

~☆~

Lance had taken Pidge home after she had woken up from her impromptu nap, and several minutes later, Hunk had woken up as well and decided to retreat his bed. Keith had finished cleaning up, and went to his room after Hunk went to his own. He shuts the door, and his fingers hover over Shiro’s name on his contact list as he’s sitting on his bed. He takes in a deep breath, presses call, and sticks the phone to his ear, listening to it ring. He ends up going into a daze that he doesn’t hear Shiro at first, but then he snaps out of his daze after Shiro shouts his name.

“Sorry, Shiro..”

“ _You sound upset. What’s wrong?_ ”

“I-- I don’t  _know_ ,” Keith hangs his head, fingers running through his bangs. “I admitted to myself and Hunk’s best friend Lance that I liked Hunk.. Y’know..  _like-like_?”

“ _I can sense the pining from miles away, Keith. But that’s good you finally admitted it to yourself. When are you going to tell him?_ ”

“Never.” Keith says. “I’m never ever going to tell him, because I don’t think he likes me in that way, and god, what if he’s  _straight_? That’d just make things more awkward between the two of us here. So I can’t do that, Shiro.”

“ _Mm. I see the problem. Look, Hunk seems like a good guy and I haven’t even met him. Also you just now realized you have a crush on him, so maybe wait a few days or a week or something and you might want to confess later on. I know you said never, but you’ll end up hurting yourself in the long run, Keith._ ”

“I.. I guess.” Keith sighs, flopping back on his bed. “I just.. You have to meet him, Shiro. He’s like a big ball of sunshine in my stormy, rainy day life.”

“ _That’s.. really cute, Keith. And I’d like to meet him at some point. Maybe we can all go to a restaurant at some point. Allura and myself, Hunk and you, and you can invite Pidge and this Lance guy._ ”

“M.. maybe.” He says  _maybe_ , but he’s really saying  _no_. Let everyone see how much of a mess he is with Hunk at a restaurant? That’d be  _god awful_. “I.. I’m going to go, Shiro. I just had to get that off my chest.”

“ _If you need any advice, Keith. Let me know._ ”

“You’re no expert. Allura was the one that confessed to you for fucks sake.”

“ _I still can give you advice though! You have a good night, Keith._ ”

“You, too. Bye.” And after Keith hangs up with Shiro, he lets out a groan, running his hands down his face. “Why did I have to fall for  _Hunk_..”


End file.
